LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

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LINCOLN AND
LIQUOR

By
WILLIAM H.TOWNSEND

Author of

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, DEFENDANT

LINCOLN AND HIS WIFE S HOME TOWN

LINCOLN, THE LITIGANT

Illustrated

NEW YORK:
THE PRESS OF THE PIONEERS, INC.

Copyright, 1934

The PRESS of the PIONEERS, INC.
New York City

a.

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

TO MY LAW PARTNERS, JUDGE RlCHARD C.

STOLID WALLACE MUIR AND JAMES PARK^

WITH THE WARMEST APPRECIATION OF

THE AUTHOR

PREFACE ix

Dr, Louis A. Warren, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Mr.
Carl Sandburg and Mr. Oliver R. Barrett of Chicago,
Illinois; Mr. Thomas P. Reep and Mr. Henry E. Pond,
of Petersburg, Illinois; Dr. Howard O. Russell, of
Westerville, Ohio; Mr. John W. Starr, Jr., of Millers-
burg, Pennsylvania; Mr. Charles T. White, of Brook
lyn, New York; Mr. Clint Clay Til ton, of Danville,
Illinois; Dr. Benjamin P. Thorn as, of Springfield, Illinois,
Mr. Thomas I. Starr, of Detroit, Michigan; Dr. Milton
H. Shutes, of Oakland, California; Mr. John T. Vance,
of Washington, D. C.; Mr. Charles T. Baker, of Grand
View, Indiana; Judge James W. Bollinger, of Davenport,
Iowa; Miss Esther C. Cushman, of Providence, Rhode
Island; Judge O. M. Mather, of Hodgenville, Kentucky;
Mr. Malcolm Bayley, of Louisville, Kentucky, and especi
ally my companions on many historical excursions, Mr.
Charles R. Staples, Mr. J. Winston Coleman, Dr.
Frank L. McVey, President of the University of Ken
tucky; Dr. Thomas D. Clark, Dr. John S. Chambers,
Dr. Claude W. Trapp, and Major Samuel M. Wilson, of
Lexington, Kentucky. Miss Ethel Duncan has rendered
most efficient service in typing and preparing the
manuscript for publication.

While it is indeed a pleasure to acknowledge the help
that has come to me from so many sources, the respon
sibility for the use of all material, the sifting and weigh
ing of evidence, and the conclusions expressed in these
pages must be mine alone. It is quite possible that some

PREFACE

THE name of Abraham Lincoln has become a
synonym for conservative, farsighted statesmanship,
keen sagacity in practical politics, and rugged personal
integrity. Vital problems of government which deeply
agitate the public mind, especially if moral issues are
thought to be involved, hardly ever fail to evoke the
query, "What would Lincoln do?" During the past
twelve months this question was frequently asked as the
various states voted on the Eighteenth Amendment.
Members of the House of Representatives discussed it
pointedly on the floor of the National Congress.

Now that federal prohibition has been repealed,
power to regulate the liquor traffic is again vested in the
several states. Wets and drys are already recruiting their
ranks for bitter legislative battles, and both sides, mind
ful of the magic of his name, claim Lincoln.

Would he favor state-wide prohibition, or would he
endorse the view of those who contend that temperance
is a personal matter which can not be enforced by legis
lation? Was Lincoln a total abstainer, a prohibitionist,
and a lecturer against the evils of strong drink, or was
he a user of liquor, a saloonkeeper in his early manhood,
and a foe of reform who denounced prohibition as a
"species of intemperance within itself?

viii PREFACE

Recent research among old newspaper files, musty
court records, archives of the Illinois Legislature almost
a century old, and the priceless though little known
Herndon-Lamon manuscripts in the Hun ting ton Library
at San Marino, California, sheds new light upon the
highly controversial subject of Lincoln s personal habits,
his attitude toward the liquor problem of his own day,
and the environment and association which doubtless
influenced his views and actions.

In the laborious task of assembling the source mate
rial for this book, it has been my fortune to have had
not only the efficient aid of various public institutions,
but also the intelligent cooperation and kindly interest
of many individual friends. Among the former, I desire
to thank the Henry E. Huntington Library, Library of
Congress, Chicago Historical Society, Illinois State
Historical Society, Union Theological Seminary of New
York, Garrett Biblical Institution of Evanston, Illinois,
Abraham Lincoln Association, New York Public Lib
rary, and John Hay Memorial Library of Brown Univer
sity. As to the latter, I must first express my deep
gratitude to Mr. Paul M. Angle, of Springfield, Illinois,
and Mr. David C. Mearns, of Washington, D. C.,
through whose tireless research many important records
have been discovered. It is not too much to say that
without their generous assistance this study would
hardly have been possible.

My thanks and appreciation are also due to Mr.
Emanuel Hertz and Miss Ida M. Tarbell, of New York,

PREFACE ix

Dr. Louis A. Warren, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Mr,
Carl Sandburg and Mr. Oliver R. Barrett of Chicago,
Illinois; Mr. Thomas P. Reep and Mr. Henry E. Pond,
of Petersburg, Illinois; Dr. Howard O. Russell, of
Westerville, Ohio; Mr. John W. Starr, Jr., of Millers-
burg, Pennsylvania; Mr. Charles T. White, of Brook
lyn, New York; Mr. Clint Clay Tilton, of Danville,
Illinois; Dr. Benjamin P. Thorn as, of Springfield, Illinois,
Mr. Thomas I. Starr, of Detroit, Michigan; Dr. Milton
H. Shutes, of Oakland, California; Mr. John T. Vance,
of Washington, D. C.; Mr. Charles T. Baker, of Grand
View, Indiana; Judge James W. Bollinger, of Davenport,
Iowa; Miss Esther C. Cushman, of Providence, Rhode
Island; Judge O. M. Mather, of Hodgenville, Kentucky;
Mr. Malcolm Bayley, of Louisville, Kentucky, and especi
ally my companions on many historical excursions, Mr.
Charles R. Staples, Mr. J. Winston Coleman, Dr.
Frank L. McVey, President of the University of Ken
tucky; Dr. Thomas D. Clark, Dr. John S. Chambers,
Dr. Claude W. Trapp, and Major Samuel M. Wilson, of
Lexington, Kentucky. Miss Ethel Duncan has rendered
most efficient service in typing and preparing the
manuscript for publication.

While it is indeed a pleasure to acknowledge the help
that has come to me from so many sources, the respon
sibility for the use of all material, the sifting and weigh
ing of evidence, and the conclusions expressed in these
pages must be mine alone. It is quite possible that some

x PREFACE

of those to whom I am indebted may not entirely agree
with everything I have said,, and I have a very high
respect for the sincerity of their opinions.

The writing of history in certain aspects is not unlike
the working of a jig-saw puzzle. One must take the
pieces as he finds them. He is not at liberty to change
their size or shape,, and the picture is not complete until
each piece has been put in its own proper place. When
one has made a faithful effort to do this, without bias
or any attempt to support preconceived theory,, he
should be able to abide the result with at least a fair

degree of equanimity.

WILLIAM H. TOWNSEND
September 1st, 1934.
28 Mentelle Park,
Lexington, Kentucky.

CONTENTS

Preface vii

CHAPTER

I. Kentucky Childhood ... i

II. Indiana Youth 13

III. New Salem 23

IV. The Legislator 40

V. A Washingtonian .... 52

VI. The Maine Law Campaign . 63

VII. The Springfield Years ... 90

VIII. President Lincoln . . . . 113

Bibliography 145

Index 149

CHAPTER I

KENTUCKY CHILDHOOD

ON a raw, sleety January evening, two handsome
young men, elegantly attired in black satin smallclothes
with knee buckles of artistic design, ruffled shirts, silk
stockings and gay-colored brocaded waistcoats, sat at a
card table before a crackling fire of hickory wood in an
upstairs room of McLean s Tavern at Bardstown, Ken
tucky. One was John Rowan, lawyer, later jurist, Con
gressman and United States Senator. The other was Dr.
James Chambers, son-in-law of Judge Benjamin Se
bastian, of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the most
promising young physician in the state.

They had just come up from the tap-room, where
Rowan had ordered mugs to be filled with a potent
brew, and, turning to those present, had hospitably
"asked help to drink it." The "gallon of strong beer"
which he and his friend Chambers had drunk before
arriving at the Tavern had given them a "zest for more."

The game of "vigutun" which they were playing
had not progressed far, however, before Rowan and the
Doctor became involved in a heated argument "as to
which understood some of the dead languages the best."

Rowan, with bibulous gravity, declared that the
Doctor was not competent to dispute with him on such

2 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

subjects. Chambers emphatically retorted that he was
vastly Rowan s superior in classical scholarship.

"I ll be damned if you are/ replied Rowan.

"I ll be damned if I m not/ exclaimed Chambers.

"You are a damned liar/ shouted Rowan.

According to an observer: "Each asserted his
superiority with warmth and acrimony,, both being
intoxicated. Mr. Rowan appeared more so, for when
blows ensued^ Mr. Rowan struck the wall of the
chimney as often, or perhaps oftener, than he struck
the Doctor.

Through the intervention of friends, the belligerent
linguists were quickly separated, but next day Cham
bers challenged Rowan to a duel. Again friends at
tempted to "accommodate" the difficulty, but without
avail, and, shortly after dawn on the morning of
February jrd, 1801, as a dense fog was lifting along the
Beech Fork near Jacob Yoder s plantation, the two
masters of the dead languages rode out of the woods, dis
mounted, removed their greatcoats, wheeled and fired
at ten paces, and Dr. Chambers fell mortally wounded
with a pistol ball in his body under the left arm. 1

The Kentucky of Abraham Lincoln s childhood was
a brawling, whisky drinking, horse racing, card playing
region that amazed early travelers to the western coun-

incident occurred only a few miles from Abraham Lincoln s
birthplace. For accounts by seconds and eye witnesses see "The Pallad
ium/ a newspaper published at Frankfort, Kentucky, March lo, May 12,
1801. George M. Bibb, later United States Senator and Secretary of the
Treasury under Tyler, was Rowan s second.

KENTUCKY CHILDHOOD 3

try. "They are nearly all natives of Virginia/ observed
the Frenchman, M. Michaux. "With them a passion for
gaming and spiritous l?quors is carried to excess, which
frequently terminates in quarrels degrading to human
nature. If a traveler happens to pass by, his horse is
appreciated, if he stops, he is presented with a glass
of whisky." 2

In the Bluegrass region, the center of culture in the
western country, encounters between gentlemen were
usually attended by the most punctilious observance of
the "code," but the backwoodsmen, drunk or sober,
scorned such pompous formalities.

When Timothy Flint visited Kentucky in 1818, he
noted in his Journal: "Fights are characterized by the
most savage ferocity, goughing, or putting out the an
tagonist s eyes by thrusting the thumbs in the sockets,
is a part of the modus operandi. Kicking and biting are
also ordinary means used in combat. I have seen several
fingers that have been mutilated, also several noses and
ears which have been bitten off by this canine mode of
fighting." 3

And Flint s horrified fellow traveler, F. Cuming,
wrote back to London: "They fight for the most trifling
provocations, or even sometimes without any, but
merely to try each other s prowess, which they are fond
of vaunting of. Their hands, teeth, knees, head and feet
are their weapons, not only boxing with their fists, but

2 Michaux, 194.

3 Flint in Thwaites, IX, 138.

4 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

also tearing, kicking, scratching, biting, goughing each
other s eyes out by a dexterous use of a thumb and
finger,, and doing their utmost to kill each other, even
when rolling over one another on the ground." 4

Dennis Hanks relates such an incident concerning
Abraham Lincoln s father, which occurred "at a gather
ing in Hardinsburg, Ky." It seems, according to Hanks,
that a certain local citizen "was reputed and cracked up
as the. best man in Breckinridge County." Thomas
Lincoln., however, who "though not a fleshy man," was
"knit so compact that it was difficult to find or feel a rib
in his body," had friends and neighbors from the "Bar
rens" of Hardin County who disputed the claims of the
champion and his supporters.

"It was agreed to and they both consented to a fair
fight," says Hanks. "They soon stript and went at it,
and Thomas Lincoln whipped him in less than two min
utes without getting a scratch." And this, too, in spite
of the fact that Lincoln was always "good humored,
sociable and never appeared to be offended." 6

But not all public gatherings in those early glamor
ous years of the nineteenth century were marred by
truculence or tragedy. Frequently at race meetings,
shooting matches, militia musters, barbecues and
other pioneer festivities, good liquor and good humor
were present in great abundance, memories of hilarious

4 Cuming s "Tour to the West/ Thwaites, IV, 137.

6 Hanks Chicago statement, June 8, 1865. "No one else ever tried his
manhood in a personal combat/ Hanks second Chicago statement.
Herndon-Lamon MSS.

KENTUCKY CHILDHOOD 5

political banquets Kentucky River catfish, mutton
chops, wild turkey, venison, hickory-smoked ham,
sweet potatoes and pumpkin pies, eloquent speeches;
claret, brandy and mellow whisky were fondly
cherished long after the snow of many winters had
cooled the blood and bleached the hair of the merry
participants.

One of these never-to-be-forgotten occasions was in
the autumn of 1 809, when the Legislature chose Henry
Clay, hardly thirty-three years of age, to represent
Kentucky in the Senate of the United States.

That evening the young statesman was tendered a
dinner at Frankfort, and, many years later, one who was
present recalled that "Gallant Harry of the West,"
after "the bottle had circulated until a late hour, an
nounced his intention of finishing off the entertainment
by a grand Terpsichorean performance on the table,
which he accordingly did, executing a pas seulfrom head
to foot of the dining table, sixty feet in length, amidst
the loud applause of his companions and to a crashing
accompaniment of shivered glass and china, for which
expensive music he next morning paid, without demur,
a bill of $ 1 20.00. " 6

The widespread use of alcoholic liquors in Kentucky
made the manufacture of ardent spirits one of the
earliest and most important industries in the state. 7

6 Little, 38.

7 A traveler who visited in Lexington in 1809 noted "two brew houses"
that "make as good beer as can be got in the United States/ and seven
distilleries. Cuming, 164.

6 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

"Bourbon" whisky, a delicately proportioned mash of
Indian corn, rye and malt, mixed with pure sparkling
limestone water, carefully cooked over a slow burning
fire, and distilled through heavy copper "worms" into
oaken barrels, charred on the inside, and then ricked
high in well ventilated warehouses to be aged by the
soft, warm, sweet-scented winds of a dozen languorous
summers, was a delicious, exhilarating beverage fit to
tickle the palate of a king.

Apple and peach brandies were also in large demand.
The fruit, when dead ripe, was thrown into large wooden
troughs and pounded with heavy pestles until reduced
to pulp. Large powerful screw presses then squeezed the
juice into vats of blue ash, where, after fermenting from
six to twelve hours, according to the weather, it was
ready for distillation.

With liquor drinking so generally prevalent among
all classes of pioneer society, one would not expect to
find easy-going, lethargic Thomas Lincoln a tee-totaler. 8

Occasionally he worked at a still house, and one ad
joined the birthplace of his famous son, but he used
liquor very moderately, and, for his day, was counted a
temperate man. 9 The time-stained store ledgers of
Bleakley & Montgomery, at Elizabeth town, Kentucky,
contain occasional items, such as, "Thomas Lincoln

8 "Thomas Lincoln was no drunkard, neither was he a total abstainer."
Barton, I, 112.

9 "Thomas Lincoln was temperate in his habits, never was intoxicated
in his life." Hanks Chicago Statement, June 8, 1865. Herndon-Lamon
MSS.

Thomas Lincoln s still-house near Lexington

KENTUCKY CHILDHOOD 7

one pint of whiskey 21 c," but they are few and far
between when compared to similar entries for other
customers.

So much, however, can not be said for the uncle of
Abraham s father, who was also named Thomas. This
prosperous kinsman, frequently mentioned by Lincoln
in his correspondence of later years> owned a fertile
farm, cultivated by his slaves, up in the Bluegrass
region, where, according to his own description, he also
"operated a very good & well fixed distillery" on South
Elkhorn Creek, near Lexington.

In 1 8 10, his wife, Elizabeth, sued him for the recov
ery of certain property under a separation agreement
which recited that "the said Elizabeth hath come to a
final determination to reside with her husband no
longer." Her bill of complaint alleged that "the said
Thomas hath been very abusive to his said wife, &
has twice kicked her with his feet & once thrown a
chair at her, and gives her very repeatedly the most
abusive language." 10

The response that Thomas filed is in contrite but
somewhat guarded terms. It alleges that "the said
Lincoln with truth can say that whatever of his conduct
towards her that may have savoured of either injustice
or cruelty, has proceeded either from a deranged mind
or casual intemperance & intoxication, and while he
with the deepest remorse laments & acknowledges these

10 Thomas Lincoln v. John O Nan, Elizabeth Lincoln, et al> March 31,
1810, file 215, Fayette Circuit Court.

8 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

errors of his own life, it has been the misfortune of his
wife to have her errors also." In further defence, he
states that on one occasion his wife "actually approached
to strike him with a chair & was about to strike him
when he repelled the blow by striking her." 11

When the case came to trial on December 13, 1810,
one of Mrs. Lincoln s witnesses. Peter Warfield, ad
mitted that she was "in the habit of frequent intoxica
tion" and that he had "frequently seen her in that
state," but expressed the opinion that it was "generally
believed in the neighborhood that Mrs. Lincoln s intem
perance proceeded from the bad conduct of her husband."

Evidently the infuriated Thomas, after court ad
journed, laid violent hands upon the truthful Peter,
because Warfield next morning filed a suit against
Lincoln for assault and battery, stating that on the
previous day "Thomas Lincoln did with feet and fists
commit an assault upon the said plaintiff & him, the
said Pltff, then & there did beat, wound & evilly treat
so that his life was despaired of greatly." 12

In after years, when Abraham Lincoln lounged about
the courthouse on visits to his wife s home town, and, as
he wrote Jesse Lincoln, "heard the older people speak
of Uncle Thomas and his family," and perhaps read the
dust laden records in the office of the Circuit Clerk, it
must have been apparent to him that mutual indulgence

11 Thomas Lincoln v. John O Nan, Elizabeth Lincoln, et al, March 31,
1810, file 227, Fayette Circuit Court.

12 Peter Warfield v. Thomas Lincoln, Dec. 14, 1810, file 227, Fayette
Circuit Court.

KENTUCKY CHILDHOOD 9

to excess in the mellow juice of Kentucky corn had been
a vital factor in the marital unhappiness of Thomas and
Elizabeth Lincoln. 13

Abraham s Uncle Mordecai, his father s oldest
brother, whom he says he "often saw/ was also a heavy
drinker, and so was his son "Young Mord." The elder
Mordecai moved to Hancock County, Illinois, and one
stormy December day in 1830, unable to longer breast
the blizzard, Uncle Mord dismounted from his horse,
lay wearily down in a snowdrift to sleep off his liquor,
and never awoke. 14

Abraham Lincoln had no recollection of his birth
place, the rude cabin by the Sinking Spring on Nolin
Creek. When he was two years old his father moved
across Muldraugh s Hill to a fertile little farm in the
bottom lands of picturesque Knob Creek, and here the
Lincolns lived until they moved to Indiana when
Abraham was almost eight years old.

This new home was on the old Cumberland Road,
the main highway between Louisville and Nashville,
and the hustle and bustle along this important thorough
fare afforded contacts with the outside world, in sharp
contrast with the isolation of "The Barrens" of Nolin
Creek* Caleb Hazel, the closest neighbor of the Lincolns,
and Abraham s second school-teacher, kept an "ordi-

13 Apparently Thomas Lincoln never reformed nor regained his former
prosperity. An execution issued against him July 3, 1815, was returned by
the sheriff marked "No property found." Execution Book D, 215, Fayette
Circuit Court.

14 Barton s "Lineage of Lincoln," 103-4-14.

10 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

nary/ and on one occasion was indicted in the Hardin
Circuit Court for "retailing spiritous liquors by the
small without a license/ 16 Peter Atherton, the Knob
Creek ferryman, sold whisky also, and in 1814 was
arrested for the same offense. 16 Two miles down the
road from the Lincoln home, and within sight of the
school that Abraham attended, was a distillery which in
time became the largest liquor manufacturing plant in
the world. 17 Every mill site, cross roads, and other pub
lic place had its "ordinary" or "groggery," where peach
brandy, applejack and whisky could be had at low cost.

Liquor drinking was by no means uncommon among
the clergy. William Downs, probably the first preacher
Abraham ever heard, who baptized Thomas Lincoln in
Knob Creek, was "indolent, slovenly, and self-indulgent
and, while pastor of the Little Mount Church which
the Lincolns attended, was summoned before the con
gregation to answer a charge of being intoxicated. 18

David Elkin, another pastor of the same church,
who, according to tradition, preached the funeral of
Lincoln s mother, is said to have had his reputation
"sullied in his later years, perhaps from too free use of
strong drink." 19

Rather frequently, Thomas Lincoln rode to Eliza-
bethtown, and now and then he took his young son with

16 Warren, 214. " Ibid, 168. l7 Ibid.

18 Spencer, Historian of "Kentucky Baptists," in Warren, 244. "His
moral character was so defective that he exercised little influence for good."

19 Spencer, in Warren, 246. Dennis Hanks says that Elkin was "an old
Ky. friend" of the Lincolns.

KENTUCKY CHILDHOOD II

him. This was on court days or other public occasions,
and here, in particular, the boy had abundant oppor
tunity to observe the boisterous conviviality of which
the pioneers were so fond. 20

Doors of the "ordinary" and "groggery" stood wide
open and all were heavily patronized. Indeed, an enter
prising physician of the village, on the days of militia
musters, always had two large buckets of "sweetened
whiskey" in front of his office as the backwoods soldiery
marched by, and "let the whole company swig to their
hearts content/ 21

It is certain that Abraham Lincoln, during his child
hood, whether he rode to mill or played about the ferry,
or went to school, or attended church, or visited the
county seat, was brought into intimate contact with
liquor, and with those who drank it regularly and, fre
quently to excess.

Moreover, in the business transactions of the neigh
borhood, Lincoln saw liquor used as one of the chief
mediums of exchange. Even at Lexington, the "Athens
of the West," church subscriptions were acceptable in
"good merchantable whiskey." With no market outlet
for his surplus corn, the pioneer often found it safer to
convert his crop into whisky than to fatten the jowls of

20 Elizabethtown was quite a gay place in the backwoods country. At
one of the terms of court the defendant moved for a new trial on the
grounds that the jury, on retiring and before making a verdict, "did eat,
drink, fiddle and dance/ and that "divers persons, not of the jury, were
admitted and joined with the jury in drinking, revelling and carousing."
Haycraft, 54.

Ibid, 153.

12 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

half wild porkers which ran at large through the dark,
tangled forest.

It is, therefore, not surprising that when Thomas
Lincoln left Kentucky to stake out a claim in the wilder
ness of Indiana, near the close of the year 1816, the
rude raft that he launched in the swift, foaming waters
of Rolling Fork carried ten barrels of distilled spirits. 22

^Lincoln s raft carried "his whiskey, farming utensils, a chest of
cabinet and carpenter s tools" and some household goods. Enroute the
raft capsized, but Lincoln "succeeded in saving most of his whiskey, a
few tools, and a few other goods. * Hanks second Chicago statement.
Herndon-Lamon MSS.

CHAPTER II

INDIANA YOUTH

OIXTEEN miles from the Ohio River, on a slight ele
vation in the dense, sombre woods, Thomas Lincoln
cleared away the thick undergrowth of grapevines,
sumac and dogwood bushes, and erected a rude, cheer-
. less shelter of poles and brush, open on one side, which
^ DennisHanks called "that Darn Little half-faced camp/ 1
*? On this isolated knoll, amidst an environment which
jo undoubtedly left its imprint upon him 3 Abraham Lin-
coin lived until he was twenty-one years of age.

Social life in southern Indiana at this period was
i typical of all backwoods settlements. Cabins, though
o far apart, were overcrowded with large families; few of
^ the inhabitants could read or write; amusements were
r rough and boisterous; alcoholic beverages potent and
( plentiful. The most popular form of entertainment was
the "frolic/ A traveler wrote, "They seldom do any
thing without having one. Thus they have husking,
CNreaping, log rolling frolics, etc. Among the females,
they have picking, sewing and quilting frolics." 2

These occasions brought the entire neighborhood to
gether, and were invariably attended by much feasting

1 Hanks to Herndon, March 12, 1866. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

2 Woods in Thwaites, X, 337.

14 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

and drinking. The men took their whisky straight^
while the women sweetened it to a toddy or drank it in
the form of a stiff eggnog, 3

In the evenings by the weird flickering light of burn
ing log heaps, whilst liquor circulated freely in earthen
jugs, passed around by small boys, the buxom frontier
belles, in short-waisted dresses of linsey woolsey, and
their stalwart beaux, in jeans or buckskins, "danced the
livelong night barefooted on puncheon floors/ 4

Even at religious services, liquor seems to have had
a proper place. Before the log church on Pigeon Creek
was built, the little congregation to which Lincoln s
family belonged met the preacher at a neighbor s cabin
on Sunday morning, where there was usually a bottle of
whisky, a pitcher of water, sugar and glasses, and a
basket of apples or turnips, or sometimes a cake or
batch of fried apple pies. When the refreshments had
been consumed, the shepherd of the flock took the floor,
threw off his coat, opened his shirt collar, read his text,
and then "preached and pounded" until the sweat pro
duced by his exertions and the exhilarating effects of the
toddy rolled down his flushed jowls in great drops. 5

8 Woods in Thwaites, X,337. "Brandy, rum and wine can be purchased
and whiskey^is in great plenty; and too much of it is drank by many."

"Excessive drinking seems the all-prevading, easily besetting sin of
this wild hunting country." Faux in Thwaites, II, 212.

4 Lamon, $3. Woods says that at a public sale the auctioneer "held
a bottle of whiskey in his hand and frequently offered a dram to the next
bidder. As I made some biddings, I was several times entitled to a sip
out of the bottle, and though I much dislike the taste of whiskey, I took
a sip for the novelty of the thing." Woods in Thwaites, X, 347.

fi Herndon, I, 64.

INDIANA YOUTH 15

The services were concluded by singing such hymns
as,, using the grotesque spelling of Dennis Hanks, "O
when shall I see jesus and Rain with him aBove" and
"how teageous and tasteless the hours when jesus No
Longer I see." But one of the worshipers remembered
that at "old Mr. Linkern s house" the Sunday morning
"treat" was only "a plate of potatoes washed and pared
very nicely. They took off a potato and ate them like
apples-" 6

The following extract from one of the old minute
books shows how the Pigeon Creek Church was sup
ported: 7

"We the undersigned do asign our names to pay the sevrial
somes annexed to our names in produce this fall to be delivered
betwixt the first and 2oth of December, the produce is as follows
corn wheat whiskey pork Linnen wool or any other article or
material to do the work with, the produce will Be Dilevered at the
meting hoas in good marchanable produce.

"William Barker ere."

Among the names of the "undersigned" appears
"Thomas Lincoln in corn manufactured pounds 24."

According to his schoolmate, Nat Grigsby, Abraham
Lincoln, at seventeen years of age, was six feet two
inches tall, "stout withey wirey," and weighed
around 160 pounds. "Like the balance of us," says
Grigsby, "he wore low shoes, short socks, wool being
scarce between the shoe and sock and his britches,

6 Lamon, 42.

7 Records of Pigeon Creek Church at Rockport, Ind; see also Tarbell s
"In The Footsteps of the Lincoln," p. 143.

16 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

made of buckskin, there was bare and naked six or more
inches of Abe Lincoln s shin bone. He always came to
school thus good humoredly and laughing/ 8

Whisky was sold at the cross roads, which later be
came Gentryville, and young Lincoln and his step
brother, John D. Johnston, Dennis Hanks and Nat
Grigsby loafed a good deal around Gentry s store, where
Abe was extremely fond of telling his droll stories.
"Sometimes we spent a little time at Grog," Hanks
naively recalled in i865- 9 And Grigsby says: "Abe
drank his dram, as well as all others did, preachers
and Christians included," but he stresses the fact that
"Lincoln was a temperate drinker." 10

William Wood, a Kentuckian, and a thrifty early
settler of Indiana, was a near neighbor of the Lincolns,
and a trusted friend and adviser of Abraham s youth.
According to Wood, "Abe once drank as all people did
here at that time." 11

Wood was a temperance man, and took a paper de
voted to that cause which Lincoln frequently read with
much interest. "One day," relates Wood, "Abe wrote a
piece on temperance and brought it to my house. I read
it carefully over and over again, and thought the piece

8 Grigsby s statement, Sept 12, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS. One of
the girls who went to school with Lincoln adds that he wore a "linsey-
woolsey shirt and a cap made from the skin of a squirrel or coon." Kate
Gentry in Herndon, I, 38.

9 Lamon, 56.

10 Grigsby s Statement, Sept. 12, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

11 Wood s Statement, Sept. 15, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

INDIANA YOUTH IJ

excelled in sound sense anything my paper contained."
He was so impressed with the article that he showed it to
Aaron Farmer, a Baptist preacher,, who sent it to a news
paper in Ohio, where it was published. 12

Doubtless, Lincoln s indulgence in alcoholic bever
ages during the Indiana years was extremely casual. In
deed his stepmother did not know that he drank at all,
or else she had forgotten the rare instances when, years
later, she said to Herndon, "He never drank whisky or
other strong drink was temperate in all things too
much so, I thought sometimes/ 13

But the tall, loose-jointed youth, in coonskin cap and
skimpy buckskin breeches, found the evenings at
Gentry s store none the less entertaining because of the
presence of ribald associates. And when the hour grew
late and the storekeeper finally dismissed the loungers
by snuffing his candles, and the boys of the neighbor
hood started home, Abe s voice, if not the most melo
dious, was certainly one of the loudest in singing, as
Dennis Hanks wrote, "the turpen (turbaned) turk that
Scorns the world and struts aBout with his whiskers
Curled for No other man But himself to see" and "Hail
Collumbia Happy land if you ain t Drunk 1*11 be
damned."

12 Wood says that this was in 1827 or 1828. Unfortunately, no copy of
this article has ever been discovered.

13 Sally Bush Lincoln to Herndon, Sept. 8, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.
On the occasion of this interview, she also said of Lincoln: "He was the
best boy I ever saw. I had a son, John, who was raised with Abe. Both
were good boys but I must say, both now being dead, that Abe was the
best boy I ever saw or ever expect to see."

18 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

Dennis further recalled that "Abe youst to try to
sing pore old Ned But he Never could sing Much." 14

Lincoln, however, even in those early days of
boisterous fun-making, was quick to lend succor to
those in distress* Late one winter evening, as he and
several others were trudging homeward from Gentry s
store, they came upon an old man lying on his face in a
mud hole by the side of the road, helplessly drunk.
Rolling him over and seeing that he could not be
aroused, the rest of the party proceeded on their way.
But Lincoln gathered the unconscious figure in his sinewy
arms, threw the half-frozen burden over his shoulder,
and, wholly without assistance from his merry com
panions, carried the old man to a cabin more than a
mile away, where "he built a fire, and warmed, rubbed
and nursed him through the entire night." The old man
gratefully gave Lincoln the credit for having saved his
life. "It was mighty clever in Abe," he often told his
friends, "to tote me to a warm fire that cold night." 15

"Lincoln was kindly disposed toward everybody and
everything," says Nat Grigsby. "He scarcely ever
quarreled." In fact, the only physical encounter of his
boyhood days which has been recorded was with Nat s
older brother, William Grigsby. It seems that Grigsby
and John D. Johnston had a "terrific fight" near Gentry-

14 Lamon, 59. "Other little songs I won t say anything about/ wrote
the modest Dennis. "They would not look well in print, but I could give
them/

"Lamon, 168.

INDIANA YOUTH 19

ville, which was attended by all of the countryside for
miles around. It was one of those fierce "fist and skull"
affairs kicking, biting, gouging that so astonished
and shocked the early journalists.

After they had fought for some time, Johnston, who
had taken a severe mauling at the hands of his larger
adversary, suddenly went down with Grigsby on top of
him, and the excited spectators closed in upon the
struggling youths, cheering and swearing. At this point,
Lincoln burst through the crowd, his long muscular
arms flying like flails, shouting that "Bill Boland (one
of the Grigsby sympathizers) showed foul play." Seizing
Grigsby by the heels, he tossed him into the bushes,
jerked his step brother to his feet, and, swinging a
whisky bottle over his head, "swore he was the big buck
of the lick."

"If any one doubts it," he shouted, "he has only to
come on and whet his horns!"

This challenge was immediately followed by a
general engagement between the two factions, from
which the Lincoln crowd soon emerged completely
victorious. 16

Though doubtless of great concern to the partici
pants at the time, this episode evidently left no perma
nent animosity on either side. In the fall of 1844,
Lincoln closed his Indiana campaign for Henry Clay,
Whig candidate for President, at Gentryville. It was his

16 Lamon, 65; Herndon I, 46-47; Grigsby to Herndon, Oct. 2,5, 1865;
Herndon-Lamon MSS.

20 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

first return to the home of his boyhood. In the midst of
his speech, Nat Grigsby entered the room> and Lincoln
recognized him instantly. "There s Nat/ he exclaimed,
and "without the slightest regard for the proprieties of
the occasion/ he "scrambled" down from the platform
and pushed eagerly through the crowd until he reached
his old schoolmate and clasped him by the hand. Then,
as though no interruption had occurred, he returned to
the rostrum and finished his speech. That night,
Grigsby and Lincoln slept together at the home of the
village store-keeper, where the Presidential elector from
Illinois "commenced telling stories and talked over old
times" until long past midnight. 17

Reuben Grigsby, father of William and Nat, who
lived only a short distance from the Lincolns, was one
of the thriftiest citizens of the community. He bought
and sold large quantities of farm produce, and many
bushels of his corn went into hog fat and whisky.
Thomas Lincoln made his lard casks, built his still house,
and "coopered" the vats and the oaken barrels that
held the potent fluid in sturdy embrace through the
ageing period. 18

In 1826, Abraham s only sister, Sarah, married
Aaron Grigsby, one of Reuben s numerous sons. Two
years later, when she was being attended in childbirth

17 Lamon, 275.

18 Charles T. Baker, Grandview, Indiana, to the author, Nov. 10, 1933.
Flint refers to land owners in Indiana who rented ground on shares and
operated still houses to use the surplus corn. He observes that in 1820 corn
sold for "25 cts" per bushel, but "when converted into spirits it yields him
at the rate of a dollar per bushel," Flint in Thwaites, IX, 293.

INDIANA YOUTH II

by a local midwife, probably Mrs. Josiah Crawford, a
baffling situation arose which required the immediate
services of a physician. The nearest doctor lived about
two miles away, but when he arrived he was so drunk
that he had to be put to bed. Sarah s father-in-law then
jumped on his horse and galloped off in a pouring rain
to summon Dr. William Davis from Warwick County,
but on the return trip the rising waters of Little Pigeon
Creek made it impossible to cross at the usual ford, and
when Dr. Davis finally arrived at the Grigsby residence,
Sarah and her baby were dead. 19

In the fall and winter of 1826, Lincoln worked on
a ferryboat at the mouth of Anderson s Creek, where it
empties into the Ohio River. The following year, he and
John D. Johnston went to Louisville and worked for a
while on the Louisville and Portland Canal, where they
were paid off in silver dollars. The next year, Allan
Gentry, son of the store-keeper, took a flat boat loaded
with meat and other produce down the river to New
Orleans. Lincoln went along as a "bow hand" to work
the "front oars," for which he received $8.00 a month
and board. One night as the boat was tied up at the
plantation of Madam Bushane, six miles below Baton
Rouge, Lincoln and Gentry, asleep in the stern, were
awakened by a band of plundering negroes, armed with
hickory clubs. But the stalwart young giant, who would
some day strike the fetters from the feet of four million

19 Shutes, 59. Charles T. Baker to author, Nov. 3, 1933. Mr. Baker is an
authority upon the doctors of the Lincoln family in Indiana.

22 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

blacks, furiously defended himself his companion and
his cargo, with mighty strokes of a huge bludgeon that
knocked some of the marauders into the river and routed
the others, leaving the deck slippery with blood and
wool, and Lincoln with a deep scar that he carried to
his grave. 20

These contacts with the outside world, as he ap
proached manhood, brought Lincoln in touch with
types of humanity more varied than he had ever known
in the backwoods. The river revealed to him the lowest
and most dissipated sort of life. As the traveler, Wood,
observed, m writing his experiences in Indiana and in the
Ohio Valley, "many of the store-keepers were very
obliging, but the boatmen the very reverse; a rough set
of men, many given to drinking whisky, fighting and
goughing." 21

In the autumn of 1829, John Button employed
Lincoln s stepbrother to operate a still house for him,
"up at the head of a hollow/ four miles southwest of
Huntingburg, Indiana, near what is now the Fredonia
and Princeton highway. Lincoln wrote the contract
between Button and Johnston, and here in this little
still house he worked among the mash tubs and copper
"worms/ the last winter he spent in the Hoosier state. 22

, 71-72; Romine s Statement in Beveridge, I, 88.

21 Woods in Thwaites, X, 255.

22 Hobson, 79-80. Lincoln left the contract which he had written with
his friend and neighbor, Henry Brooner.

Site of still-house where Lincoln worked in Indiana

CHAPTER III

NEW SALEM

IT WAS August ist, 1831, and election day at New
Salem, a straggling village of some fifteen log cabins
situated upon a high bluff of the Sangamon River, in
what is now Menard County, Illinois. The voting place
was at the home of John M. Cameron, one of the
earliest settlers in the community.

During the morning, the election officers found
themselves in need of a clerk. A tall and very slender
young stranger, exceedingly awkward in appearance,
even among uncouth surroundings, wearing a calico
shirt, brogan shoes and pale blue castinet pantaloons,
much too short for his long scrawny legs, 1 was loitering
about the polls, and one of the officers asked him if he
could write. The stranger s deepset gray eyes twinkled:

"I can make a few rabbit tracks," he drawled, with
a Kentucky accent that clung to him all his life. 2

Later in the day, as the voters came in slowly, the
new clerk began to relate some of his Indiana yarns,
the most amusing of which remained vividly in the
memory of a bystander after the elapse of over thirty
years.

1 Statement of James Short, July 7, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.
Short says that at this time Lincoln "appeared to be as tall as he ever be
came, and slimmer than of later years."

2 Lincoln at New Salem, 21.

24 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

One Sunday morning, so the story went, an itinerant
preacher, short and very corpulent, filled the pulpit of
the Little Pigeon Baptist church. The day was hot and
sultry, and he wore a huge pair of pantaloons made of
coarse linen with a flap in front, attached to his shirt
without belt or suspenders, the upper garment fastening
by a single button at the back of his neck.

After several hymns had been sung, the minister ad
vanced to the front of the rostrum, and, before reading
his text, announced in a loud, solemn voice: "I shall rep
resent Christ today." Just at that instant, a little blue
lizzard popped out from between the logs, and, un
noticed by the audience, ran up a leg of his baggy
breeches. The preacher slapped wildly at his heavy
thigh, and, hoping to allay any suspicion that all was
not well, repeated in tones even louder than before:
"I shall represent Christ today/ By this time the in
truder, clawing viciously, was climbing his broad,
sweaty back, and, throwing caution to the wind, the
good man gave a frantic shrug of his thick shoulders
that burst his collar button, and both shirt and trousers
dropped to the floor.

Then, as the bewildered congregation sat gazing at
the naked, disheveled figure, apparently doing a war
dance on the pulpit, an "old sister" arose indignantly to
her feet, and, as she marched down the aisle and out of
the door, shouted shrilly: "If you represent Christ then
I am done with the Bible." 3

3 Statement of J. R. Herndon, July 2, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

NEW SALEM 25

In this manner, Abraham Lincoln introduced him
self to the fun-loving citizens of New Salem, and sprang
instantly into a popularity that steadily increased as
time went on.

His presence in the village was due to the fact that
early in the spring he had taken a flat-boat loaded with
bacon, corn and hogs to New Orleans for Denton
Offutt, a brisk, boastful, venturesome trader, then en
gaged in extensive business operations up and down the
Sangamon River. 4 Offutt, having taken a great liking to
his droll, stalwart boat-hand, had purchased a quantity
of merchandise in St. Louis and was opening a store at
New Salem with Lincoln in charge.

The new establishment was a general country store,
including dry goods, and whisky was as much a part of
the stock as coffee, tea, sugar, molasses, tobacco and
gunpowder. 5

The best evidence, however, that liquor was not
sold by the drink at Offutt s place is that the convivial
element did not congregate there, but had its rendez
vous across the road at William Clary s "grocery,"
where the sportive Offutt himself spent much of his
time when he happened to be in New Salem. 6

Lincoln found little in the pioneer life of Illinois that
he had not known before. Religion was demonstrative,

4 James Short to Herndon, July 7, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.
"Offutt was a wild, harum-scarum kind of a man, and I think not much of
a business man."

5 R. B. Rutledge to Herndon. Herndon-Lamon MSS.
8 Lincoln at New Salem, 24.

26 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

and the use of ardent spirits widely prevalent. Commun
ity intercourse centered largely about the familiar camp
meetings-, log rollings, house raisings and trading ex
cursions to the village on Saturday afternoons.

But the deviltry of the Clary Grove Boys added a
spice and zest to New Salem atmosphere that Gentry-
ville never had. Wild, reckless, warm-hearted, impulsive,
this swaggering set of picturesque young rowdies,
descendants of Kentuckians who had brought their
racing stock and game cocks to the frontier country,
were equally ready for fight or frolic. 7 Devoted to rough
sports involving feats of physical strength, hostile to
strangers whose courage was yet untested, they stood
aloof from Lincoln until one sunny afternoon, under the
giant oak near Offutt s store, when the tall, sinewy
clerk conquered their chief and champion wrestler, Jack
Armstrong. Thereafter, as one of them declared: "Abe
was king, his word was law." He umpired their cock
fights, wrestling matches and foot races, and his de
cisions were accepted without a murmur. 8

Strangely enough, Lincoln never drank any liquor at
New Salem. The evidence is uncontradicted and con-

7 Lincoln at New Salem, 27. Uncle Jimmy Short, looking back upon
those days through the sombre eyes of old age, refers in harsh terms to the
Clary Grove Boys "Roughs and bullies who were in the habit of winning
all of the money of strangers at cards, and then whipping them in the
bargain/ Short to Herndon, July 8, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

8 Onstott^73; "He could throw down any man that took hold of him,
he could out jump and out box the best of them, he could beat all of them
on anecdote, he was the superior of all of them." J. R, Herndon to Hern
don; May a8, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

NEW SALEM 27

elusive on this point. 9 "I have seen him/* says R. B.
Rutledge, "frequently take a barrel of whisky by the
chimes and lift it up to his face as if to drink out
of the bung-hole, but I never saw him taste or drink
any kind of spiritous liquor/ 10 And yet, though he
neither drank nor brawled, Lincoln never rebuked his
roistering companions, nor attempted to reform them
in any way, except perchance by force of his personal
example.

While he was stretched out reading on the counter,
his head propped up with bolts of cotton or calico, a
drunken fight would frequently start in the village street
and Lincoln would run out, "pitch in," grab the ag
gressor by the "nap of the neck and seat of the britches/
and toss him "10 or 12 feet easily." This, an eye witness
dryly observes, "usually ended the fuss/ and Lincoln
calmly returned to his book. 11

On one occasion, the Clary Grove Boys persuaded
an old man by the name of Jordan to allow himself to
be rolled down the steep, rocky bluff in a barrel, for a

9 "Lincoln never drank liquor of any kind." Onstott, 73. Onstott s
father was the village cooper.

"He never played cards nor drank nor hunted." Short to Herndon,
July 7, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

"I am certain that he never drank any intoxicating liquors." State
ment in Herndon, I, 117,

"In all my acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln, I never knew him to take
a drink of liquor of any kind." Ross, 99. Ross was the New Salem mail-
carrier.

10 R. B. Rutledge to Herndon. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

11 J. R. Herndon to W. H. Herndon, May 28, 1865; statement James A.
Herndon. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

28 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

gallon of whisky, but, as Royal A. Clary tersely re
marks, "Lincoln stopped it/ 12

In the early thirties, Dr. John Allen, the genial
physician of New Salem, organized a Temperance
Society, pledged to total abstinence. The new movement,
however, was not popular. In fact, it was vigorously
opposed by many church members, particularly those
of the Hard Shell Baptist persuasion. 13

Mentor Graham, the schoolmaster who was teach
ing grammar to Offutt s young clerk, joined the reform
society, and the trustees of his church promptly ex
punged his name from the roll. At the same time, one
of the members was expelled for getting drunk. Mysti
fied by this naively inconsistent attitude on the part of
the church board, another member stood up, drew from
his pocket a flask half full of whisky, and, holding it in
his hand, inquired: "Brethering, you turned one mem
ber out because he did not drink, and another because
he got drunk, and now I want to ask you, how much of
this ere critter does a man have to drink to stay in full
fellership in this church ?" 14

Although he belonged to the village debating club,
there is no evidence that Lincoln at any time affiliated

12 Clary s statement. Herndon-Lamon MSS. Clary was a member of
Lincoln s company in the Black Hawk War.

13 Lincoln at New Salem, 109. One of the residents accounts for much of
this opposition by saying that most of the church members had barrels of
whisky at home. Onstott, 165. Even that most upright citizen of New
Salem, Rev. John Cameron, kept a barrel of whisky in his cellar. Tarbell s
"In the Footsteps of the Lincolns," 194.

14 Lincoln at New Salem, 102.

NEW SALEM 29

with the Temperance Society, but tradition has it that
years later he publicly acknowledged in Allen s presence
that the old doctor had greatly influenced his "ideas
upon the liquor question/ 15

By the time the ice had broken up on the sluggish
Sangamon in the spring of 1832, Den ton Offutt had
failed in business, left the country., and his clerk was out
of a job. On March 9th of that year, Lincoln announced
his candidacy for the Legislature, but a few weeks later
he enlisted for service in the Black Hawk War, and was
elected captain of the New Salem company, with the
doughty, faithful Jack Armstrong as his first sergeant*

The men of Lincoln s regiment were all volunteers,
rough, rollicking frontiersmen, who sang and shouted,
gambled, played pranks, and heartily despised military
discipline. One night, a member of Captain Lincoln s
company broke into the officers quarters and stole
several buckets of wine and whisky, which he generously
distributed among his grateful comrades. Next morning,
the captain was chagrined to find that only a few of his
men were fit for marching. To make matters worse,
Lincoln himself was arrested, held technically respon
sible by his superiors for the affair, and, as a symbol of
his degradation, was made to carry a wooden sword for
two days. 16

In less than three months, the Black Hawk campaign
was over, and Lincoln hurried back to Sangamon

"Lincoln at New Salem, in. Claim, however, has been made that
Lincoln gave this credit to Rev. Berry.
16 Herndon, I, 95-6.

30 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

County and plunged into his race for the Legislature, al
though the election was hardly more than a week off.
His personal appearance is described by one who saw
much of the young candidate at this time: "He wore a
mixed jeans coat, claw-hammer style/ says A. Y. Ellis,
"short in the sleeves and bob-tailed in fact, it was so
short in the tail he could not sit on it, flax and tow-
linen pantaloons, a straw hat and pot-metal boots/ 17

There was, of course, an abundance of liquor at all
public meetings where the many candidates appeared,
and some of the aspirants for the more remunerative
offices were able to "charter" entire saloons and grocer
ies for the free accommodation of those whose suffrage
they sought. But Lincoln went his cheerful, friendly
way, meeting people, shaking hands, spinning yarns,
delivering an occasional speech, but neither indulging in
nor making use of liquor in any manner. 18

Losing by a narrow margin in the election, the de
feated politician was looking for a job when a tragedy
in the Herndon family where he boarded 19 presented an
opportunity for another mercantile venture at New
Salem. During the summer of 1832, Rowan Herndon
and his brother James had opened a store in the village,
but James soon sold out to a young drunkard named
William R Berry. Then in the early autumn, Rowan

17 Lamon> 127.

18 Ibid, 125; Beveridge, (MS. Ed.) I, 125.

19 "He came to my house to board soon after his return from the army
. . . my family became much attached to him." Rowan Herndon to W. H.
Herndon, May 28, 1865. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

NEW SALEM 31

killed his wife with a shotgun, claiming that the weapon
had been discharged as he was taking it from the loft
for the purpose of cleaning it. 20 Sentiment, however,
was about evenly divided as to whether the shooting
was accidental or by design, and Herndon, anxious to
leave the community, sold his half of the store to
Lincoln. 21

A few weeks later the new firm bought a small stock
from Rutledge and Sinco, 22 and on January 15, 1833,
Berry and Lincoln acquired the wreckage of Reuben
Radford s grocery after the Clary Grove Boys, in a
drunken spree, had smashed up his place. 23

Of course, the firm of Berry and Lincoln did not
prosper. The junior partner spent most of his time with a
book, and the senior partner with a bottle, until the fol
lowing spring when Lincoln sold his interest to Berry. 24

It has hardly ever been denied that Berry and
Lincoln sold liquor in quantities at their store. Certainly
the Rutledge-Sinco and Radford goods acquired by the
new firm consisted largely of whisky. 25 But a fierce con
troversy has raged for years as to whether they sold
liquor over the counter by the drink.

20 Lincoln at New Salem, 45.

21 James A. Herndon to W. H. Herndon, June 25, 1865. Herndon-
Lamon MSS.

22 "A remnant of a stock belonging to Rutledge and Sinco." A. B.
Rutledge to Herndon. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

23 Lincoln at New Salem, 45-113.

24 Ibid, 47.

26 Rutledge and Sino sold whisky over the bar, Henry Sinco having a
"grocery" license. Tarbell s "Early Life of Lincoln," 169. Radford also
kept a "grocery." Lamon, 136. Lincoln at New Salem, 45.

32 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

The sale of intoxicating beverages in Illinois at that
time was regulated by two Acts relating to "Taverns,"
which required a tavern license of "any public inn, ale
house or dram shop or public house of entertainment/
and any "tippling shop commonly called a grocery"
that sold or retailed "any rum, brandy, or other spirits,
or strong water, by less quantity or measure than one
quart" or "any beer, ale or cider, by any quantity less
than two gallons, the same liquors being respectively de
livered to one person and at one time." The license fee
to be paid to the County Commissioners was "any sum
not exceeding $12.00 which they may deem reasonable."
Bond was required, with surety, in the discretion of the
Commissioners, "not exceeding three hundred dollars/
for the "good behavior" of the licensee. 26

On March 6, 1833, the Commissioners of Sangamon
County "ordered that William F. Berry, in the name of
Berry and Lincoln, have a license to keep a tavern in
New Salem," and fixed the prices to be charged for
liquor :

French brandy per J pt. 250

Peach brandy per J pt. i8|

Apple brandy per \ pt. 12

Holland gin per J pt. i8f

Domestic gin per ^ pt. 12^

Wine per \ pt. 25

Rum per \ pt. i8|

Whiskey per J pt. I3 27

25 The Revised Laws of Illinois (1833 Ed.), 595-597- Quotations from
these statutes are from Squire Bowling Green s copy, which Lincoln studied,
loaned to the author by Mr. Henry E. Pond, of Petersburg, Illinois.

27 Photostatic copy of record in author s possession.

+*. /&
A^S/ -av f&ri-ts "/

e ^ST,

Tavern license to sell liquor issued in the name of Lincoln and Berry

NEW SALEM 33

The bond Is signed, "Abraham Lincoln,, Wm. F.
Berry/ with Lincoln s old friend., Squire Bowling
Green, as surety. Apparently, Berry subscribed his
partner s name to the document, since an examination
of the original shows that it is not in Lincoln s hand-

- no

writing/ 8

There is no doubt that Berry operated a tippling
shop a "grocery" under this license after Lincoln re
tired from the firm and became the village postmaster
on May 7, 1833, but the recollections of old residents of
New Salem are not in accord as to whether the store be
came a "grocery" before Lincoln sold his interest in it.

When William H. Herndon, after Lincoln s death,
began interviewing his late law partner s early friends
and associates, he wrote to George Spears, who had
formerly lived for many years near New Salem, about
the kind of store Berry and Lincoln had kept.

"I took my horse this morning," Spears replied,
"and went over to the neighborhood of New Salem,
among the Potters and Armstrongs, and made all the
enquiries I could, but could learn nothing. The old
Ladies would begin to count up what had happened in
Salem when such a one of their children was born and
such a one had a bastard, but it all amounted to noth
ing. I could arrive at no dates only when those children

28 The statement has been repeatedly made that Lincoln was opposed
to the issuance of this license. The author has been unable to find any
authentic support for this statement. On the contrary, considering the
intimate relations that existed between Lincoln and Green, it seems more
probable that the latter signed the bond as a favor to Lincoln.

34 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

were born. Old Mrs. Potter affirms that Lincoln did sell
liquor in a grocery. I can not say whether he did or not.
At that time I had no idea of his ever being President,
therefore I did not notice his course as close as I should
if I had." 29

Nine days later W. McNeely wrote Herndon:
"Father asks me to say that he never was in Lincoln s
store, but then understood it to be a common grocery
whisky shop by the drink/ 30

In 1895, when Ida M. Tarbell was writing the "Early
Life of Lincoln/ her assistant, J. McCan Davis, visited
several old persons who had once lived in and around
New Salem, in an effort to learn something definite
about the Berry and Lincoln establishment.

Daniel Green Burner said: "I clerked in the store
through the winter of 1833-34, up to the ist of March.
While I was there they had nothing for sale but liquors.
They may have had some groceries before that, but I am
certain they had none then. I used to sell whiskey over
their counter at six cents a glass and charged it too." 31

Parthenia Hill said: "Berry and Lincoln did not
keep any dry goods. They had a grocery, and I have
always understood they sold whiskey." 32

James McGrady Rutledge said: "There were two
rooms, and in the small back room they kept their
whiskey. They had pretty much everything except dry

29 George Spears to Herndon, Nov. 3, 1866. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

30 W. McNeely to Herndon, Nov. 12, 1866. Herndon-Lamon MSS.
"Tarbell, 172.

32 Tarbell, 172.

NEW SALEM 35

goods sugar, coffee, some crockery, a few pairs of
shoes (not many), some farming implements, and the
like. Whiskey, of course, was a necessary part of their
stock." 33

And John Potter remembered that Berry and
Lincoln had "a grocery and they sold whiskey, of
course." 34

In analyzing these statements, it will be seen that of
all the persons interviewed by Spears in 1866, thirty-
three years after the event, old Mrs. Potter was the
only one who recalled that Lincoln had kept a grocery.
Spears* report to Herndon aptly illustrates how the
elapse of time blurs memory. McNeely did not claim to
have any personal knowledge on the subject, but the
reputation of the place, as he recalled it, is entitled to
some consideration.

Looking back over the long vista of thirty-two years,
Mrs. Hill and Potter and Burner declared that Berry
and Lincoln s store was a "grocery," The other witness,
Rutledge, merely stated that "whiskey was a necessary
part of their stock," as indeed it was with nearly all
merchants of that day, even where no liquor was sold
by the "dram."

However, it must be borne in mind that at the time
of the Davis interviews, Mrs. Hill was in her eightieth
year, that she did not come to New Salem until she
married Samuel Hill on July 28, 1835, two years after

** Tarbell, 173-4.
^ Ibid, 174.

36 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

Berry and Lincoln had severed business relations, and
that John Potter was eighty-seven years of age, Rut-
ledge eighty-one, and Daniel Burner a year older than
Rutledge. 35

Furthermore, if Burner clerked at the store, as he
says, "through the winter of 1833-34," Berry was then
the sole proprietor, and had been for months. 36 The fact
of Berry s individual ownership for almost a year, and
the further fact that Lincoln kept his postoffice all the
while at Berry s place 37 and slept, at least part of the
time, in the little back room, probably account for
the aged Burner s evident confusion, as well as the
recollections of Mrs. Hill and Potter.

At any rate, this would seem to be a rational ex
planation, considering the very definite and substantial
testimony in opposition to the statements of these
witnesses.

About the time Hern don wrote George Spears in 1 866,
he also consulted James Davis on the same subject,
who stated: "Lincoln and Berry broke. Berry sub
sequently kept a doggery a whiskey saloon, as I do
now or did. Am a Democrat never agreed in politics
with Abe. He was an honest man. Give the devil his
dues. He never sold whiskey by the dram in New Salem.
I was in town every week for years know, I think, all

35 Tarbell, 172.

86 Lincoln at New Salem, 47, 57, 65. See also mortgage from William F.
Berry to E. C. Blankenship, Apr. 29, 1833, Transcript Book A, 273.
Menard County Recorder s Office, Petersburg, Illinois.

87 Lincoln at New Salem, 58.

Bond for liquor license for Lincoln and Berry

NEW SALEM 37

about it, I always drank my dram, and drank at Berry s
often, ought to know." 38

And Harvey Ross says: "I am sure no liquor was
sold by the drink in his store while Mr. Lincoln had an
interest in it. I had occasion to be in the store very
often while I was carrying the mail/ 39

On August ai, 1858, Judge Stephen A. Douglas,
opening the first joint debate at Ottawa, Illinois, re
ferred to the many points of sympathy between him and
Lincoln when they "first got acquainted/ Said he:
"We were both comparatively boys, and both struggling
with poverty in a strange land. I was a school teacher
in the town of Winchester, and he a flourishing grocery
keeper in the town of New Salem/

In reply to this sly thrust, which Douglas did not
repeat during the campaign, Lincoln said: "The judge
is woefully at fault about his early friend Lincoln being
a grocery keeper. I don t know as it would have been a
great sin if I had been; but he is mistaken. Lincoln
never kept a grocery any where in the world/ Then he
added, drolly, "It is true that Lincoln did work the
latter part of one winter in a little still house at the head
of a hollow," 40 and the big crowd roared with laughter.

In view of Lincoln s emphatic denial and the positive
statements of James Davis and Harvey Ross, the

38 James Davis Statement. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

39 Ross, 99-100.

40 Lincoln and Douglas Debates, 69. Quotation taken from copy auto
graphed and presented by Lincoln to Captain Job Fletcher, now owned
by the author.

38 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

weight of the evidence is decidedly against the conten
tion that Lincoln sold liquor over the counter at New
Salem, but, whether he did or not, the Berry and
Lincoln partnership was his last business venture.

Free from the monotony of drawing molasses and
cutting calico, Lincoln found his new duties as post
master very much to his liking. For years he had been
an insatiable reader of newspapers, and now he had
regular access to the Louisville Journal, the Missouri
Republican, the Cincinnati Gazette, the National In
telligencer, and similar publications from different parts
of the country. At the same time, he was able to supple
ment the meager income of his office with what must
have seemed to him highly lucrative employment as as
sistant to John Calhoun, the County Surveyor.

And so the warm summer afternoons of 1 833 slipped
swiftly and happily away, as Lincoln read the latest
political news to the illiterate loungers who sat on the
empty powder kegs around the little postoffice, or
loafed along the river bank in the fading twilight
with Jack Kelso, the village philosopher and fisherman,
while bullfrogs boomed their lusty choruses in the
shallow pool below the Cameron-Rutledge mill dam.

Then came a memorable day when the great "tent
show" arrived in Springfield. Such a sight had never
been seen before in all the frontier country. Clowns,
acrobats, beautiful ladies, bareback riders, glittering
in silver spangles a huge Anaconda snake, eighteen
feet long! And far up on the top row of rickety slats

NEW SALEM 39

under the big canvas sat the New Salem postmaster,
attired in the very height of rustic fashion. His coat and
pants were of brown linen, his white vest dashed with
brocaded flowers. He wore for a necktie a black silk
handkerchief with a narrow fringe and tied in a double
bow, with a low crowned hat of buckeye splints perched
jauntily on the back of his towsled head. Abraham
Lincoln, with all the thrilling emotions of a child, was
attending his first circus. 41

41 Onstott, 50.

CHAPTER IV

THE LEGISLATOR

ON A BRIGHT, frosty morning in the late autumn of
1834, Abraham Lincoln, one of the new representatives
from Sangamon County, clad in a suit of tailor-made
clothes, bought with borrowed money, mounted the
stagecoach at Springfield on his way to Vandalia, where
the Legislature was about to convene. Successful in
his second venture into politics, he was to be re-
elected for three consecutive terms to the Illinois
General Assembly, and never again defeated by vote of
the people.

The state capital, located upon the west bluff of the
Kaskaskia River in Fayette County, was a typical
frontier town of perhaps a hundred houses, mostly
frame, with less than a thousand inhabitants. But it was
quite a gay social center during the sessions of the
Legislature. Many of the members brought along their
wives, 1 unmarried sisters and other attractive female
relatives, and the winter evenings were filled with
brilliant levees, balls and parties.

Liquor, of course, added zest and hilarity to these
occasions. A Vandalia grocery announced through the

1 Here Lincoln met the courtly Orville EL Browning, from Quincy, and
his Beautiful, cultured wife, and a warm friendship began which lasted
until Lincoln s death. Browning to Arnold, Nov. 25, 1872. Copy in pos
session of author.

THE LEGISLATOR 41

press an amazing variety of alcoholic beverages, in
cluding champagne, six kinds of brandy in pipes and
barrels, Holland and American gin, several barrels of
Irish and Monongahela Whisky, six barrels of beer,
Burgundy, Madeira, Sherry, claret and two brands of
Port wines. Also "bottles assorted, pint and half pint
flasks/ 2

When Judge Richard M. Young was elected United
States Senator, he gave a banquet to the Legislature,
"regardless of party/ and one who was present relates
that late in the evening, after the company had freely
imbibed a vast quantity of "Yellow Seal and corn
juice," Stephen A. Douglas and James Shields, to the
"intense merriment of the guests," climbed upon the
table, as Henry Clay had done years before at Frank
fort, "encircled each other s waists, and, to the tune of
a rollicking song, pirouetted down the whole length of
the table, shouting, singing and kicking dishes, glasses
and everything right and left, helter skelter," and that
the "supper, wines, liquors and damages" cost the host
the neat sum of six hundred dollars. 3

On another occasion, several members of the Legis
lature were entertained at a dinner by the citizens of
Springfield, one of the toasts being: "Abraham Lincoln
he has fulfilled the expectations of his friends and dis
appointed the hopes of his enemies/ After the twenty-
two regular toasts had been drunk, many voluntary

2 Beveridge (MSS. Ed.), I, 182.

3 Stevens, 299.

42 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

toasts were offered, including Lincoln s: "All our
friends they are too numerous to mention now in
dividually, while there is not one of them who is not too
dear to be forgotten or neglected/ 4

Debates in the Legislature frequently became heated
and sometimes duels were fought. Lincoln himself al
most became involved in an "affair of honor" during
the bitter argument over the removal of the capital to
Springfield. General Lee D. Ewing, formerly United
States Senator, a man of aristocratic appearance, ele
gant manners, quick temper, and great pugnacity, rep
resented the opposition. Those who favored Spring
field chose Lincoln as their spokesman.

In his remarks, which were extremely "cutting and
sarcastic," Ewing turned to the Sangamon delegation
which sat together in one corner of the House chamber,
and sneeringly exclaimed: "Gentlemen, have you no
other champion than this coarse and vulgar fellow to
bring into the lists against me? Do you suppose that I
will condescend to break a lance with your low and
obscure colleague?"

When the General had finished, a spectator relates
that Lincoln leaped to his feet and launched into a
vicious reply that "tore the hide off Ewing." Usher F.
Linder, who was in the gallery, observed that Lincoln
"retorted upon Ewing with great severity," and adds,
"this was the first time that I began to conceive a very
* Beveridge (MSS. Ed.), I, an; Sandburg, I, 199.

THE LEGISLATOR 43

high opinion of the talents and personal courage of
Abraham Lincoln/ 5

When the House adjourned that afternoon, it was
freely predicted that a challenge would pass between
the parties, but the counsel of friends prevailed and
further difficulty was avoided.

Occasionally, even amidst the convivial atmosphere
of the capital, Lincoln had fits of gloom, which were to
increase in frequency as the years went by. "You recol
lect that I mentioned at the outset of this letter that I
had been unwell," he wrote to Mary Owens from Van-
dalia, as the Legislature of 1836 convened. "That is the
fact, though I believe I am about well now; but that,
with other things I can not account for, have conspired
and have gotten my spirits so low that I feel that I
would rather be any place in the world but here. I really
can not endure the thought of staying here ten weeks/ 6

But the fiddle of Newton Walker, of Fulton County,
and the companionship of Archibald Williams of Adams,
usually kept Lincoln in good spirits. Williams was over
six feet in height, and was, says Linder, "as angular and
ungainly in his form as Mr. Lincoln himself." The two
legislators were almost inseparable, and sat near each
other in the House. One day a friend of Linder s asked
him: "Who in the hell are those two ugly men?" 7

6 Linder, 62-63.

6 Lincoln to Mary Owens, Dec. 13, 1836, Works, I, 17. The fact that
this was near the beginning of his strange, desultory, courtship of Miss
Owens probably accounts for his feelings in this instance.

7 Linder, 239. Lincoln said of Williams that he "thought him the
strongest minded and clearest headed man he ever saw."

44 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

During Lincoln s first two terms, the law regulating
the sale of liquor in Illinois, which had been on the
statute books since i Sip, 8 was amended twice. On Feb
ruary 12, 1835, the maximum limit of the license fee
was raised from $12.00 to $50.00. And on February 10,
1837, the license was entirely removed from the sale of
beer and cider in any quantity. Neither of these amend
ments seems to have been considered very important,
and, since no roll calls were demanded, Lincoln s vote
is not a matter of record.

The spirit of the times, however, was changing
rapidly. The session of 1838-39 felt strongly the effect of
the numerous temperance societies that were springing
up all over the country. Petitions poured in express
ing deep hostility to the "liquor traffic/ Lincoln pre
sented a petition of "631 citizens of Sangamon County,
praying the repeal of all laws authorizing the retailing
of intoxicating liquors/ 9

Realizing that prohibition at this time was impos
sible, the foes of liquor confined their efforts toward
more stringent regulatory laws. A high license fee, a
heavy bond, an increase in the minimum quantity
which could be sold without a license, and a provision
which later came to be known as "local option," were
the chief objectives.

On January 26, 1839, John J. Hardin, a member of
the Committee on the Judiciary, introduced such a bill

8 Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833 Ed., 594-598.

9 House Journal, Session 1838-9, 319.

THE LEGISLATOR 45

and presented the committee s report condemning the
existing law. 10 On February 26th, when the bill came
up for third reading, an amendment was offered reduc
ing the minimum license fee from $50.00, as provided in
the bill, to $25.00. Lincoln and forty-four other mem
bers voted against this amendment, and it was rejected. 11
Then the House voted on the bill itself, which failed of
passage by a tie vote of thirty-nine to thirty-nine,
Lincoln voting against the measure. 12

On the following day, a similar bill, including a
local option provision, which had been approved by the
Senate, was received by the House, and was passed,
forty-three to thirty-seven, and again Lincoln is re
corded as voting in the negative. 13 This Act imposed a
license fee of not less than $25.00 nor more than $300.00,
instead of the maximum of $50.00 under the old law.
The maximum bond was increased from $300.00 to
$500.00. The minimum quantity of vinous or spiritous
liquors which could be sold without a license was raised
from one quart to one gallon. A local option clause pro
vided that if a majority of the legal voters in any
county, justice s district, incorporated town or ward in
any city, should petition the authorities not to grant
license for the sale of liquor, none should issue until a
similar majority from the same political subdivision
should petition for the granting of the license. 14

10 House Journal, Session 1838-9, 287.

11 Ibid, 527-8.

12 Ibid. 13 Ibid, 536.
"Laws of Illinois, 1838-9, 71-2.

46 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

The new liquor law was held as a victory for the
temperance forces, but the liberal element was not ready
to concede defeat. Hardly had the special session of
1839-40 opened, when, on December 19, 1839, a bill
was introduced to repeal it. Upon motion, "the whole
matter" was referred to the committee on the Judici
ary. 15 On December a6th, that Committee reported a
substitute bill, and recommended its passage. This bill
reduced the maximum license fee from $300.00 to $i 50.00.
License was only required for the sale of liquor in quan
tities less than one quart instead of one gallon. The
local option clause was omitted.

A representative from Vermilion County moved to
amend the Act by inserting a local option provision,
such as the existing law contained. This motion was lost
by a tie vote, thirty-nine to thirty-nine, Lincoln voting
against it. 16 On January 13, 1840, when the bill came
up for its third reading, a local option amendment was
again offered, but voted down, forty-two to thirty-six,
Lincoln still voting in the negative. 17 On January 27 th,
the bill was passed by a vote of fifty-two to twenty-nine,
Lincoln voting in favor of the measure. 18

Although this Act passed the House by a decisive
majority, the temperance forces succeeded in blocking
its passage in the Senate, and it failed to become a law.

When the 1840-41 session convened, the temperance
leaders immediately assumed the offensive in an effort

15 House Journal, Session 1839-40, 62.

16 Ibid, 86. Ibid, 162. " ibid, 262.

THE LEGISLATOR 47

further to restrict the sale of liquor. To that end. Attor
ney General W. Kitchell promptly addressed the Legis
lature on November 26, 1840:

"The first degrees of sin and crime.," declared Gen
eral Kitchell, "are frequently taken at those licensed
and tolerated places of idleness and intoxication called
Groceries, Coffee Houses, Exchanges, and all synony
mous terms for places of excess and disorder. There it
is that our youths are led astray, and their fathers
seduced, to their own shame, to the wasting of the most
necessary means for the immediate support of them and
their families. A father s degradation, a son s disgrace,
and the ruin of whole families, may be traced back to
these haunts of vice/

In the speaker s opinion, "the greatest injury to
society from the sale of spiritous liquors results from the
small measure by which they are sold. I would, therefore*
recommend," said Kitchell, "that all persons be pro
hibited from retailing intoxicating liquors in a less
quantity than one quart in any situation, or under any
circumstances whatsoever/

In this way, "the great evil resulting from congre
gated masses at tippling shops to the disturbance of
public peace and the ruin of its subjects will, it is thought,
be to a great degree prevented." 19

Without delay, the Committee on the Judiciary
proposed a new license law which was referred to a
select committee. On December 19, 1840, Representa-

19 House Journal, Session 1840-41, 13.

48 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

tive Ormsbee "reported the same back to the House
with a substitute for the original bill which fixed the
license fee at from $10.00 to $100.00." Representative
Ross moved to increase the maximum fee to $25.00. A
representative bearing the same name as the Attorney
General,, probably a relative, then, somewhat heatedly,
announced that "as the only object of these laws seemed
to be to raise revenue, he should support the amend
ment. He would also suggest that we should license
gambling." To which the hot-tempered Mr. Murphy, of
Cook County, replied that "it seemed to be the desire of
some that we should legislate the country into morality.
He desired to give them an opportunity to effect their
purpose." 20

Murphy, thereupon, moved to strike out all after
the enacting clause and insert as follows: "That after
the passage of this Act no person shall be licensed to sell
vinous or spiritous liquors in this state, and that any
person who violates this Act by selling such liquors
shall be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to
be recovered before any court having competent
jurisdiction." 21

For a few moments, the members seemed dazed at
the unexpectedness with which the issue of state-wide
prohibition had been squarely thrust upon them, but
Lincoln was equal to the emergency, and the House
Journal records that "Mr. Lincoln moved to lay the

20 Abstract of House Debate, Sangamo Journal, Dec. 22, 1840.

21 House Journal, Session 1840-41, 136.

THE LEGISLATOR 49

proposed amendment on the table/ which was hastily
done by an overwhelming vote of seventy-five to eight. 22

For many years, and particularly after the adoption
of the Eighteenth Amendment, the report was widely
circulated at various times that Lincoln, on this occasion,
the very page of the Journal being often cited, declared
that "prohibition will work great injury to the cause of
temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself,
for it goes beyond the bounds of reason, in that it
attempts to control a man s appetite by legislation, and
in making crimes out of things that are not crimes. A
prohibitory law strikes a blow at the very principles
upon which our government is founded. I have always
been laboring to protect the weaker classes from the
stronger, and I can never give my consent to such a law
as you propose to enact." And then Lincoln is supposed
to have dramatically concluded: "Until my tongue is
silenced in death, I will continue to fight for the rights
of man/ 23

However, neither the House Journal nor the Spring
field newspapers which published abstracts of the de
bates and legislative proceedings for December 19, 1840,
show that Lincoln made any remarks whatever in sup
port of his motion, nor is the statement attributed to

22 House Journal, Session 1840-41, 136. "While acting as their repre
sentative, I shall be governed by their will on all subjects upon which I
have the means of knowing what their wish is, and upon all others, I shall
do what my own judgment teaches me will best advance their interest."
Lincoln s "Political Views," June 13, 1 836. Works, 1, 15.

23 For a few instances see New York Times, Apr. u, 1926; Louisville
Courier-Journal, Nov. 6, 1930; Louisville Herald-Post Apr. 18, 1932.

50 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

him to be found in any of the several editions of his
writings and works.

On the contrary, there seems to be satisfactory evi
dence that this statement was fabricated in Atlanta,
forty-seven years after Lincoln is alleged to have made
it, for the purpose of influencing negro voters, during a
turbulent campaign, to drive out the saloons in Fulton
County, Georgia, in the fall of 1887. Near the close of
the con test, hand-bills were circulated among the colored
population bearing a picture of Abraham Lincoln strik
ing the shackles from a kneeling negro, followed by the
spurious statement against prohibition, and a stirring
exhortation: "Colored voters, he appeals to you to
protect the liberty he has bestowed upon you. Will you
go back on his advice. Look to your rights! Read and
act! Vote for the sale!"

Still, it can not be denied that Lincoln s record in
the Illinois House of Representatives shows that he
voted consistently with the liberal element on liquor
legislation. He voted against a bill offered by the tem
perance forces when his vote would have passed the
measure. He voted against a similar bill that had passed
the Senate. He voted twice against local option amend
ments, once when his vote would have carried the
amendment. He voted for an act which would have
become a law had not the temperance advocates defeated

24 The American Issue, July 22, 1922. For full details of this hoax, see
The Voice, Jan. 19, 1888.

I "";

LIBERTY!

Colored voter, he aptpetUi to y^ to protect th Ubarty
eatoweatiiwjE
back on his

Will you go

; .OOKTOYOORRIBHTS! RE AD AND ACT!

TUTE FOE THE SiUEI

Spurious hand-bill circulated in Atlanta

THE LEGISLATOR 51

it in the Senate, and he voted in favor of his own motion
which killed a state-wide prohibition amendment.

However, in spite of Lincoln s apparent attitude
toward the enforcement of temperance by law, there
can be no doubt, as we shall see, of his firm belief in
temperance as a rule of personal deportment.

CHAPTERV

AWASHINGTONIAN

N APRIL 6 y 1840., six liquor addicts met in the
rear of a saloon in Baltimore and formed an organiza
tion opposed to the use of alcoholic beverages, called
"The Washington Society/ Urging total abstinence,,
with a membership consisting largely of reformed
drunkards, this movement swept across the country
with the fervor and zeal of a crusade, and within three
or four years 600,000 bleary-eyed derelicts had signed
the pledge. 1

In December 1841, a Washington Temperance
Society was organized in Springfield, and a few days
later its membership numbered 350 persons out of a
population of less than 2,000. Similar societies quickly
sprang into existence at Athens, Salisbury, and other
towns in Sangamon County.

Article Two of the constitution adopted by the
Springfield Chapter recited that "the sole object" of
the Society was "to advance the cause of temperance,
and especially direct its efforts to the redemption of our
fellowmen who have been degraded by the use of intoxi
cating liquor."

1 The founders of The Washingtonians were: W. K. Mitchell, a tailor;
J. F. Hoss, a carpenter; David Anderson and George Steers, blacksmiths;
James McCurley, a coach-maker, and Archibald Campbell, a silversmith;
White, 37. See also Banks, 99-101.

A WASHINGTONIAN 53

Article Three provided that "any person having
signed the Washington Temperance pledge in this city,
and who adheres strictly to the same, shall be members
of this Society, and if any one shall be so unfortunate as
to violate said pledge, his case shall be brought before
the Society, whose duty it shall be to use every other
means to restore him before he shall be expelled/

The pledge to which the members subscribed was
simple, brief and explicit: "The undersigned being de
sirous of carrying out the principles of Temperance, do
pledge our honor that we will abstain from all intoxi
cating drinks." 2

The first evidence of Abraham Lincoln s connection
with the Washington Society is the eulogy of a deceased
member which he delivered on February u, 1842. In
opening his address, Lincoln referred to the "sudden and
melancholy death of its much respected member,
Benjamin Ferguson."

"Mr. Ferguson," he observed, "was one who became
a member of this Society without any prospect of ad
vantage to himself. He was, though not totally abstin
ent, strictly temperate before; and he espoused the
cause solely with the hope and benevolent design of
being able, by his efforts and example, to benefit others.
Would to God he had been longer spared to the humane
work upon which he had so disinterestedly entered."

Lincoln then spoke briefly and appropriately of the
sterling character and many virtues of the deceased,

2 Records in Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield.

54 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

and closed his remarks with the somewhat trite senti
ment: "In very truth he was, "the noblest work of God
an honest man/ 3

Eleven days later, on February 22, 1 842, following a
spectacular parade of the Sangamo Guards, Lincoln
delivered a Washington s Birthday oration before the
Society, and an assemblage that packed the Second
Presbyterian Church. He began his speech by congratu
lating the friends of temperance upon the rapid strides
which the cause had made in recent years. This great
success was due to "rational causes" which, upon con
sideration, were apparent. The warfare hitherto "waged
against the demon intemperance" had been ineffective*
There was something wrong either with their advocates
or the tactics employed. "These champions," said
Lincoln, "for the most part have been preachers, law
yers and hired agents" men between whom and the
"mass of mankind" there was a "want of approachabil-
ity." Motives of self-interest were charged against them
the preacher, it was said, was a fanatic who desired
a "union of church and state," the lawyer, in hearing
himself speak, gratified his "pride and vanity," the
hired agent worked for his salary.

The "new champions," to whom recent "success
is greatly, perhaps chiefly, owing," were themselves
reformed drunkards. When "a redeemed specimen of
long lost humanity" appeals to his former associates,

8 Angle, 12. This address was published in the Sangamo Journal, Feb.
ii, 1842.

A WASHINGTONIAN 55

"there is a logic and an eloquence in it that few with
human feelings can resist." Nobody can doubt his
sincerity or question his motives.

Lincoln expressed the opinion that former methods
of reform had been injudicious "to much denuncia
tion against dram sellers and dram drinkers was in
dulged in/ said he, "This, I think, was both impolitic
and unjust. It was impolitic because it is not much in
the nature of man to be driven to anything; still less to be
driven about that which is exclusively his own business,
and least of all where such driving is to be submitted to
at the expense of pecuniary interest or burning appetite/

As long as they were denounced "in thundering tones
of anathema" as the authors of all the vice and misery
and crime in the land classed with "thieves and rob
bers and murderers .... shunned by all the good and
virtuous/ it was no wonder that they did not readily
"join the ranks of their denouncers in a hue and cry
against themselves/

"Persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion," said
Lincoln, is the best way to influence human conduct.
Gain a man s friendship first and then it is not difficult
to successfully appeal to his reason. "On the contrary,"
he observed, "assume to dictate to his judgment, or to
command his action, or to mark him as one to be shun
ned and despised, and he will retreat within himself
all efforts to reform him will be in vain."

The Washingtonians knew that "their real friends
and companions" were not "demons nor even the worst

56 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

of men.** Far from it. "Generally they are kind, gener
ous and charitable, even beyond the example of their
more staid and sober neighbors."

The older generation had "found intoxicating liquor
recognized by everybody, used by everybody, repudiated
by nobody/ Physicians prescribed it. Preachers had it
on their sideboards. Its manufacture was an honorable
means of livelihood; its sale a reputable business.

Even as to those who habitually used liquor to excess,
"none failed to think the injury arose from the use of a
bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing. . . .
Their failure was treated as a misfortune, and not as a
crime, or even as a disgrace." Was it strange, therefore,
"that some should think and act now as all thought and
acted twenty years ago?" Was it "just to assail, con
demn or despise them for doing so?" The Washington-
ians, declared Lincoln, repudiated the inhuman doctrine
of the old reformers that consigned the habitual* drunk
ard to utter and eternal damnation. They bear aloft the
torch of hope despair is banished. "While the lamp
holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return." The
most ardent exponents of the new cause were once the
chief offenders.

"Whether or not the world would be vastly bene-
fitted by a total and final banishment from it of all
intoxicating drinks, it seems to me not now an open
question," said Lincoln, emphatically. "Three-fourths
of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues,
and I believe all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts."

A WASHINGTONIAN 57

This being so, everybody should lend a hand in provid
ing "moral support and influence" for those who were
struggling to resist the craving for drink. No person,
however sober and reputable, should regard himself too
good to join what some people called "a reformed
drunkards society."

"In my judgment/ said the speaker,, "such of us as
have never fallen victims have been spared more by the
absence of appetite than from any mental or moral
superiority over those who have. Indeed, I believe that
if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and
their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with
those of any other class."

Lincoln then referred to the "political revolution of
76," which demonstrated to the world "the capability
of man to govern himself." What of the temperance
revolution ? What a "noble ally" to the "cause of political
freedom ... in which we shall find a stronger bond
age broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater
tyrant deposed." And this moral triumph accomplished
without the costly price paid for our political liberty!
No orphans no widows no bloodshed! Even the
makers and sellers of liquor "will have glided into
other occupations so gradually as never to have felt
the change."

In conclusion, the speaker expressed the hope that
the day would come "when there should be neither a
slave nor a drunkard" on the globe, and paid a brief,

58 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

glowing tribute to Washington "the mightiest name
of earth/ 4

Such was Lincoln s first temperance address. The
Washingtonians were satisfied with it and had it printed.
The Sangamo Journal gave it favorable mention. 5 But
caustic comment came from other quarters. His criticism
of the old reformers and his exhortation to fellowship
with the fallen rankled in the breasts of the bigots.

"I was at the door of the church as the people passed
out/ says Herndon, "and heard them discussing the
speech. Many of them were open in the expression of
their displeasure. It is a shame/ I heard one man say,
that he should be permitted to abuse us so in the house
of the Lord/" 6

So far as known, Lincoln made only two references
to his Washington s Birthday speech. On the day of its
delivery, he wrote his young friend, George E. Pickett,
for whom he had obtained an appointment to West
Point, 7 and who, years later, was to lead his shattered
brigades up Cemetery Hill in the historic charge at
Gettysburg: "I have just told the folks here in Spring
field, on this noth anniversary of the birth of him
whose name, mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still
mightiest in the cause of moral reformation, we mention

4 Works, I, 193.

5 Sangamo Journal, Feb. 25, 1842.

6 "The whole thing, I repeat, was damaging to Lincoln." Herndon, II,
0.61-2. This address contributed to Lincoln s defeat that year for the Whig
nomination to Congress, when Hardin won. Newton, 19.

7 "George E. Pickett was appointed to West Point through the political
power and friendship of Abraham Lincoln." Pickett, 126.

A WASHINGTONIAN 59

in solemn awe . . . that the one victory we can ever call
complete will be that one which proclaims that there is
not one slave or one drunkard on the face of God s green
earth. Recruit for this victory/ 8

Several weeks later, he wrote his old roommate,
Joshua Speed, at Louisville: "You will see by the last
Sangamo Journal that I made a temperance speech on
the 22nd of February, which I claim that Fanny and
you should read as an act of charity to me, for I can not
learn that anybody else has read it, or is likely to.
Fortunately, it is not very long, and I shall deem it a
sufficient compliance with my request if one of you
listens while the other reads it." 9

For a year or more after Lincoln s address, the
Washingtonians remained active in Springfield. Herndon
says that, in spite of criticism directed against him,
"nothing daunted, Lincoln kept on and labored zealously
in the interest of the temperance movement* He spoke
often again in Springfield, and also in other places over
the country, displaying the same courage and adherence
to principle that characterized his every undertaking." 10

However, by the end of 1 842, the Washington move
ment had perceptibly waned, 11 the hysterical enthusiasm

8 Lincoln to George E. Picket t, Feb. 22, 1842. Works, I, 191.

9 Lincoln to Joshua Speed, March 27, 1842. Works, I, 214.

10 Herndon, II, 261-2.

11 The movement depended upon moral suasion alone, many of its most
zealous supporters opposing all resort to the enactment or enforcement of
laws against the traffic." White, 38. Some thought that the "weak spot"
in the movement was the lack of religion. Many leaders "would not con
sent for the meetings to be opened with prayer." Banks, 109-10.

60 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

of the great reform had subsided as suddenly as it began,
and we hear nothing further of Lincoln s temperance
activities until the Sangamon Temperance Union was
formed in May 1846. This organization was apparently
a central agency for the twenty or more local temper
ance societies in the county. 12 It had a President, Secre
tary, and a Board of Visitors, whose duty it was to
attend the meetings of the local societies and encourage
them in their work.

At a meeting on August 31, 1846, J. B. Watson re
ported to the Board that Mr. Lincoln had addressed
the Springfield Juvenile Society, and that three had
signed pledges. On June 28, 1847, it was reported that
Lincoln and S. S. Brooks had attended "an interesting
meeting * at Langston s, where Lincoln made "an excel
lent address/ but no pledges were signed. Upon advice
of J. B. Weber, the minutes of the Board on August 30,
1847, recite that Lincoln and J. Robinson addressed a
meeting on South Fork, and that one pledge had been
signed.

Of this last temperance gathering, we have the
recorded recollections of several persons who were
present. It was held at the South Fork school house in
Cotton Hill Township. The log structure had just been
erected, and, the day being warm, the crowd sat outside
on the freshly cut stumps. Cleopos Breckenridge, many

12 The minute book of this Society was recently discovered by Paul M.
Angle, and is now in the archives of the Illinois State Historical Society.
It existed from May 1846 to Sept. 1850.

A WASHINGTONIAN 6l

years afterward, remembered that Lincoln "made a
very strong appeal for total abstinence. . . . He gave
reasons why he was in favor of total abstinence, and
why he thought others should become total abstainers/* 13
In the autumn of 1847, Lincoln made an address one
evening at a church, while attending court at Tremont.
The pastor "made some opening remarks/ and, turning
to the circuit rider who sat beside him on the rostrum,
smilingly said: "I will now give place to the strong

man."

Lincoln unfolded his tremendous stature and, as he
walked forward, drolly observed: "If my reverend friend
had said the long man, he would have hit it/

One of those present relates that "his following re
marks were strongly in favor of total abstinence, and
he earnestly advised the boys to sign the pledge/ 14

But, in spite of his temperance activities, there is no
positive evidence that Lincoln was ever a member of
any of the reform societies, although it would seem
very probable that he was a Washingtonian. So far as
the records show, he did not belong to the Sangamon
Union, and certainly he was neither an officer nor a
member of the Board of Visitors.

The Sons of Temperance was another anti-liquor
society which flourished in Illinois during the early
fifties, and James Gourley told Herndon: "I got Lincoln
to join the Sons of Temperance about 1854. Rejoined

13 Banks, 33-4; Hobson, 54.

14 Shaw, 13.

62 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

and never appeared in it again." 15 But if he ever con
sidered himself a member of this organization, Lincoln
did not mention the fact when he addressed one of its
delegations at the White House on September 29, 1 863. 16
And on September 26, 1854, Judge James S. Ewing
heard him say at Bloomington, "I am not a member of
any temperance society." 17

15 Gourley s statement to Herndon. Herndon-Lamon MSS. "Lincoln
was a great temperance man during the time of the Washingtonians."
" Works, IX, 144.
17 James S. Ewing, Feb. 12,, 1909, in Phillips, 55.

CHAPTER VI

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN

INURING the late thirties and through the decade of
the forties, temperance reform in Illinois, as we have
seen, was largely confined to the exertion of "moral
suasion." There was seldom any serious mention of
prohibition. But around the turn of the fifties, those who
waged war on strong drink began to clamor for the
absolute suppression of the liquor traffic by law.

In 1851, the Maine Legislature enacted a measure
introduced by Neal Dow, which prohibited the manu
facture and sale of intoxicating beverages in that state, 1
and this law immediately became a model for similar
legislation adopted in New England.

That same year, the temperance forces in Illinois
won a signal victory by securing the passage of an Act
known as the "Quart Law," which made it unlawful to
sell liquor "by a less quantity than one quart," pro
hibited its sale "by any quantity whatever to be drunk
in any house, tavern, store, grocery, outhouse, shed, or
other building," and repealed all license laws. 2 Thus,
the iniquitous tippling house which served liquor by the
"dram" was abolished.

1 For text of the Maine Law, see White, 165.

2 General Laws of Illinois, ijth General Assembly, 18-19.

64 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

By 1853 the prohibition agitation had really become
acute in Illinois. The Legislature which convened in
January was flooded with petitions favoring the passage
of a Maine Law. Additional pressure was brought
upon the General Assembly by a temperance organiza
tion called the Maine Law Alliance, which met in con
vention at Springfield on January 23rd and continued
in session for several days.

On the first day, the delegates were addressed by
Dr. James Smith, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church. Taking his text from Habakkuk, 11:15: "Woe
unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest
thy bottle to him." Dr. Smith, with great dramatic
fervor, drew a vivid picture of the drunkard "a miser
able being with bloated face and shabby appearance,
frequenting the lowest haunts of vice . . . forever under
the influence of strong drink, stretched senseless in the
gutter; or rolling in the mud on the highway; or stagger
ing into the midst of his unhappy family, besmeared
with blood and dirt."

He dwelt at length upon "the evils resulting from

the use of the bottle." It destroyed character, impaired

reason, brought poverty and shame upon the innocent

members of the drunkard s family, and finally damned

the disheveled victim himself to the bottomless pit.

"But who hath put the bottle to his neighbor?"
inquired Dr. Smith. The liquor seller? Yes, but the
responsibility lay deeper than this. The landlord "who
rented the liquor seller the house in which his traffic

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 65

was conducted" who put money above human happi
ness, material gain above "the souls of men" was
equally guilty. But wait before passing sentence upon
these culprits ! No matter how guilty they may be before
God, "neither has violated the law of the land." What
about the Legislature that "gave the liquor seller the
legal authority to conduct his traffic ?" And the Governor
who approved it?

The Legislators and the chief executive,, however,
are merely servants of the people, Dr. Smith reminded
his audience., who acted "under the conviction that they
were doing their will and pleasure." Therefore, it was
the people, the voters, who were really responsible for
the drunkard s plight.

The remedy? "The most effectual would be the pas
sage of a law altogether abolishing the liquor traffic,
except for mechanical, chemical, medicinal and sacra
mental purposes, and so framed that no principle of the
constitution of the state or of the United States be
violated."

Should the Legislature now in session pass such a
law and leave its adoption with the people, said Dr.
Smith, "the most vigorous exertion should be made to
secure that end by spreading information on the subject
broadcast throughout the land."

In conclusion, the speaker warned the delegates
against discouragement: "Should our present Legisla
ture take no salutory action on the subject, persever
ance in the work, and a Dependence upon the Divine

66 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

blessing, will infallibly secure a final and glorious victory/
Dr. Smith s address seems to have been most enthusi
astically received, and next day he was handed the
following note:

"Rev. James Smith, D.D.

Sir:

The undersigned having listened with great satisfaction to the
discourse on the subject of temperance, delivered by you last eve
ning, and believing that, if published and circulated among the
people, it would be productive of good, would respectfully request
a copy thereof for publication."

Among the thirty-nine signers of this communica
tion were Simeon Francis, editor of the Illinois State
Journal, one of Lincoln s most intimate friends, and
John T. Stuart, his first law partner, and the last name
on the list was that of Abraham Lincoln himself. 3

Lincoln s signature to the request for the publica
tion of Dr. Smith s speech frequently has been cited as
conclusive evidence that he advocated prohibition.
Certainly, the movement to wipe out liquor traffic by
legislative enactment was becoming increasingly popu
lar among the Illinois Whigs. And no one can positively
say that Lincoln was not one of those who favored it.
But it is only fair to observe that his signature does not
necessarily prove this to be so. Reading the Discourse, *
it is possible to agree entirely with Dr. Smith as to the
"evils" of intemperance without acquiescence in his

8 A photostatic copy of this address entitled: "A discourse on the
Bottle its Evils, and the Remedy/ with the note and list of signers, is in
the possession of the author.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 6j

"remedy/ and, therefore, any temperance man, as
Lincoln surely was, might well think the publication of
the address "productive of good," and still not be a
prohibitionist.

Furthermore, it is now known that at this time
Lincoln considered himself under very deep obligations
to Dr. Smith. Young Eddie Lincoln had died of diph
theria on February i, 1850, and the funeral had been
conducted, by the pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church. 4 Shaken and disconsolate over the loss of his
little boy, the religious doubts and misgivings of
Lincoln s early manhood again rose up to perplex him.

Finding him, as Dr. Smith says, "much depressed
and downcast at the death of his son, and without the
consolation of the Gospel," the doctor had a long talk
with Lincoln, and loaned him a copy of a book which he
had written entitled: "The Christian s Defense," a
militant assault upon agnosticism and infidelity. 5 This
volume gave the distressed father much comfort, and
shortly thereafter Lincoln rented a pew in the First
Presbyterian Church, which he kept as long as he lived
in Springfield. 6

Under the existing circumstances, irrespective of
other motives, it is apparent that personal considera
tion alone would have justified Lincoln s gesture of

4 Illinois Daily Journal, Feb. 2, 1852.

6 Dr. Smith, in Barton s "The Soul of Abraham Lincoln," 162.

6 Dr. Smith, in Barton s "The Soul of Abraham Lincoln," 156. Town-
send, 227-231. Lincoln appointed Dr. Smith consul at Dundee, Scotland,
which position he held until his death in 1871.

68 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

courtesy, if such it was, in joining his friends and neigh
bors in the request for the publication of Dr, Smith s
temperance speech.

At any rate, the lobbying of the prohibition forces
and the circulation of the Smith pamphlet seemed about
to achieve the desired result, when, on February 4, 1853,
a select legislative committee, to which all liquor peti
tions had been referred, reported "an Act for the sup
pression of drinking houses and tippling shops/ which
was almost an exact duplicate of the Maine Law. 7

On February yth, the Quart Law" was repealed,
apparently for the purpose of clearing the way for the
enactment of the great reform measure. But on the
1 2th, much to the chagrin of the temperance leaders,
the "Maine Law" was defeated, and on the same day
an Act was passed which reinstated the license system
substantially as it had existed prior to i85i. 8

However, the prohibition movement soon rallied
from this temporary setback, and its forces returned to
the assault more determined than ever. On May 22,
1854, the people of Springfield voted to prohibit the
sale of liquor within the city limits, which became
effective August ist of that year. 9 Lincoln s law partner
was then mayor, and, though himself addicted to the
liquor habit, Herndon was a staunch prohibitionist, and

7 Senate Journal, i8th General Assembly, 285.

8 General Laws of Illinois, i8th General Assembly, 91-92.

9 Illinois State Journal, June 3, 1854.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 69

entered upon the enforcement of this law with all the
ardor of his impetuous nature. 10

At last,, when the Legislature convened in January
1855, the prohibition tide was too strong to be stemmed.
On January aoth, "an Act for the suppression of intem
perance and to amend Chapter 30 of the Revised Sta
tutes/ more stringent in some respects than the original
Maine Law, passed the House by a vote of 42 to 26,
and on February 9th, the Senate adopted it by a vote
of 17 to 7. 11

Vigorous opposition, however, had forced the advo
cates of the bill to concede an amendment which pre
vented the measure from becoming effective until it had
been ratified by the people of the state at an election to
be held June 4, 1855. During the four months which
followed, the fight for votes was one of the most bitter
ever waged in Illinois.

This contest came at an exceedingly inopportune
time for Lincoln, who was doing his utmost to arouse
public sentiment against the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise. 12 And the anti-slavery men were sharply

10 "I W ent personally to some, if not most of the groceries in our city
. . . and told them they must close their doors. . . . Women and children
can now walk through our streets, highways and alleys, at all hours, night
or day, with scarce a fear of insult or harm." Valedictory of William H.
Herndon, Illinois State Journal, Apr. n, 1855.

11 Illinois House Journal, 1855, 411; Laws of Illinois, 1855, 3-30.

12 For an editorial written by Lincoln, see Illinois State Journal, Sept.
n, 1854, Angle, 132. In his Springfield speech, July 17, 1858, Lincoln
stated that he believed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was "the
beginning of a conspiracy" to make slavery "perpetual, national and uni
versal. ... So believing, I have since then considered that question a
paramount one." Works, III, 174.

70 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

divided on the question of prohibition. Billy Herndon
stoutly favored it. 13 So did Judge Stephen T. Logan,,
Lincoln s second law partner,, who had been in active
charge of the bill when it passed the House. So did
Editor Simeon Francis.

On the other hand, the foreign born citizens of the
state were almost solidly against prohibition. This was
especially true of the 90,000 Germans, who could send
to the polls 20,000 votes, and the Germans were as
much opposed to the extension of slavery as they were
to liquor reform. 14

Many of Lincoln s warm personal and political
friends, like Jacob Bunn, of Springfield, 15 and Jesse Fell,
of Bloomington, 16 were against the new law.

Moreover, Lincoln was then an active candidate for
the United States Senate, 17 and he was not only indus
triously canvassing the members of the Legislature, but
his letters show that, like any other good politician, he

13 "Our Legislature has passed a Maine Law I am for it, as you may
suppose to take effect if the people vote for it. I think they will." Hern
don to Theodore Parker, Feb. 13, 1855. Newton, 77. "Our State Register
slaveite whisky paper attacked our prohibitory law and I was called
on to defend." Same to Same, Apr. 12, 1855. Ibid. 78.

14 Koerner, I, 623.

15 Bunn was a large wholesale and retail grocer, and Lincoln s regular
client. John W. Bunn to Isaac N. Phillips, Nov. 8, 1910. Phillips, 145. In
I &59, when Lincoln secretly bought a German newspaper, The Staats-
Anzeiger, his trusted friend Bunn handled the transaction for him. Angle,
204.

16 A leading anti-slavery man, Fell was in 1855 against prohibition.
Beveridge, III, 294. Fell was the first man to publicly espouse Lincoln s
cause as the Republican candidate for President.

17 1 have really got it into my head to try to be United States Senator,
and, if I could have your support, my chances would be reasonably good."
Lincoln to J. Gillispie, Dec. I, 1854. Works, II, 265.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 71

was extremely anxious to avoid giving offense in any
way to those whose assistance he sought. 18

Three days after the election, Lincoln wrote his old
circuit-riding companion > Henry C. Whitney., lamenting
that Logan, who had been a candidate for the Supreme
Court, was "worse beaten than any other man ever was
since elections were invented/ and closed his letter with
the remark: "It is conceded on all hands that the pro
hibitory law is also beaten." 19 The most diligent search
through many years has failed to reveal any other
reference that Lincoln ever made to this exceedingly
vituperative campaign.

But Herndon was not so complacent over the defeat
of the cause to which he was earnestly devoted. On
October 30, 1855,, he wrote Parker: "As I wrote you
once before, we got badly beaten in our temperance
move, and the reason is that human rights float in the
bubbles of whiskey which swim on the fire surface.
Though defeated, we are not conquered. It is very hard
to overcome interest, appetite, habit and the low dema
gogue who rules the synod in the grocery/ 20

For almost a half-century, no claim was ever made
that Lincoln had taken any part whatever in the pro
hibition struggle of 1855. While the contest itself was
raging, and for years afterward, Herndon wrote regu-

18 Lincoln to J. M. Palmer, Sept. 7, 1854; Same to T. J. Henderson,
Nov. 2.7, 1854; Same to E. B. Washburne, Dec. 14, 1854. Works, II, 187,
263, 267.

"Lincoln to Whitney, June 7, 1855. Works, XI, 101-2.

20 Newton, 83.

72 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

larly to Theodore Parker, the noted theologian, aboli
tionist and temperance advocate of Boston. Frequently
he mentioned his law partner s anti-slavery activities,
and sent Parker Lincoln s "best wishes," and spoke
freely of his own efforts on behalf of prohibition, but
there is not a single word in all this correspondence
that mentions Lincoln in that connection. 21

Later on, the alert, diligent Herndon collected a
vast store of reminiscences from those who had known
Lincoln intimately, and there is not a line in all this
material indicating that he participated in the Maine
Law campaign. There is, however, an interview with
James Gourley, Lincoln s next door neighbor for sixteen
years, in which he positively states that Lincoln "took
no part in the great temperance move when an Act of
the Legislature was passed and submitted to the people/
and Herndon, who certainly knew whether this was true
or not, wrote the statement down carefully, without
dissent. 22

In 1872, Ward H. Lamon, Lincoln s law partner at
Danville, and one of his closest friends, published a
"Life of Lincoln," in which he declared that Lincoln
"disliked sumptuary laws and would not prescribe by
statute what other men should eat or drink. When the
temperance men ran to the Legislature to invoke the
power of the state, his voice the most eloquent
of them was silent. He did not oppose them, but

21 Newton, 72, et seq.

22 Statement of James Gourley, Herndon-Lamon MSS.

Rev. James W. Smith, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church of Springfield

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 73

quietly withdrew from the cause and left others to
manage it." 23

And; though Herndon, Browning, Swett, Davis,
Trumbull and others discussed Lamon s book critically
and at length, this statement went unchallenged. 24
Simeon Francis, whose devotion to Lincoln and to pro
hibition is beyond question, made no denial in the pages
of his Journal, or elsewhere.

In 1874, Messrs. Davidson and Stuve published in
Springfield "A Complete History of Illinois from 1673-
1873," which stated that "the Hon. B. S. Edwards, a
lawyer of ability and eminent standing, framed" the
prohibition bill. Ten years later, while Mr. Edwards
was still living, a second edition of this history, revised
in some particulars, was brought out by a different
publisher, but this information about the authorship
of the Maine Law legislation remained unmodified.

Thus matters stood as to Lincoln and the prohibition
issue of 1855, until Thursday afternoon, May 26, 1904,
after Herndon and Browning and Davis and Francis and
Logan and Swett and Lamon and Edwards and Trum
bull, and every other close associate of Lincoln were all
dead, when James B. Merwin, seventy-five years of age,
delivered an address at the Lincoln tomb in Oak Ridge
Cemetery. 25 Merwin, a native of Greene County, New
York, early in the fifties had edited a temperance news-

28 Lamon, 480.

24 Newton, 306, 309; Diary of O. H. Browning, II, 366.
26 This address was first published in a temperance journal called "The
New Voice," June 16, 1904.

74 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

paper at Hartford, Connecticut,, and had been active
in the state-wide prohibition campaign which swept
New England after Maine went dry in 1851* Thereafter,,
he had been a journalist and a professional temperance
lecturer.

On this occasion, at the Lincoln tomb, Merwin broke
a silence of nearly fifty years, and declared that in the
autumn of 1854 he had arrived in Springfield for the
purpose of assisting in the Maine Law campaign; that
he had made a speech before a temperance meeting held
in the State House, after which the crowd had called for
Lincoln, who, thereupon, delivered such an address upon
the "definition of law, its design and mission, its object
and power, as few present had ever dreamed of." Mer
win then said that he and Lincoln had stumped the
state together for prohibition. "In that memorable
canvass," said he, "Mr. Lincoln and myself spoke in
Jacksonville, in Bloomington, in Decatur, in Danville,
in Carlinville, in Peoria, and at many other places."

Although he undertook to quote from memory the
exact words of Lincoln s speeches, Merwin made no
mention at this time that Lincoln had been the author,
or had taken any part in the drafting of the Illinois
measure. Apparently, he did not recall this important
fact until several years later, but on July 5, 1910, in
response to an inquiry from Dr. F. D. Blakeslee, of
Binghamton, New York, District Superintendent of the
Anti-Saloon League, as to Lincoln s "temperance prin-

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 75

ciples," Merwin announced that "Mr. Lincoln drew the
prohibitory law/ 26

The startling news that Abraham Lincoln had not
only campaigned for prohibition in Illinois, but had
actually drafted the law itself, received wide publicity
through the temperance press, and, despite his advanced
age, Merwin became very much in demand at various
meetings sponsored by the Anti-Saloon League.

The 1 6th national convention of the Anti-Saloon
League was held in Atlantic City, July 6-9, 1915. Dr.
Howard O. Russell, founder of the League, presented
Merwin to the delegates as "a man who was an inti
mate friend of Abraham Lincoln, to give us his testi
mony first hand/* Under interrogation by Dr. Russell,
Merwin then told of his relations with Lincoln in Illinois,
and later during the Civil War. 27 In doing so, however,
he stated that he was "eighty years old last May,"
when, in fact, he was eighty-six, 28 and he fixed the year
that he went to Springfield as 1852 instead of 1854.

At the close of the interview, questions were invited
from the audience, and an inquisitive, perhaps skeptical,
delegate asked:

"Mr. Merwin, will you tell me how you know Mr.
Lincoln wrote that prohibition law for Illinois?"

To which the old man made an exceedingly nebulous
reply: "Yes, with great pleasure, too, because he said of

"White, 155.

27 Proceedings of the i6thNational Convention of the Anti-Saloon
League of America, 264-273.

28 Merwin "was born in Cairo, Greene County, New York, in 1829."
White, 87.

76 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

it when it was written, I know it will hold water, but I
want to know whether it will hold whiskey or not/ He
sent me to twenty-five or thirty of the leading judges
and lawyers of the State of Illinois with a copy of that
law to submit to them whether it would hold prohibition
and be effective/*

Merwin then exhibited to the audience a large gold
watch, saying that "after the campaign ended he
(Lincoln) made me a present of this.

"I want to fix in your mind, brethren and sisters/
he emphasized, "that Mr. Lincoln then and there, with
out any solicitation or prompting upon the part of any
one, drew this inscription that is on the watch/

Engraved upon the dust lid of this very handsome
timepiece was the following:

"Presented by the friends of temperance in Chicago to J. B.
Merwin, Corresponding Secretary of the Illinois State Maine Law
Alliance, as a token of their confidence and regard for his untiring
energy and perseverence in the campaign of 1855, for Prohibition.
Inscription written by Abraham Lincoln." 29

Then on March 31, 1917, three days before he died,
Merwin made a still more detailed statement, in which,
referring to the first time he ever saw Lincoln, at the
State House in Springfield, in the autumn of 1854, he
said: "After the meeting, I introduced myself to him,
told him my mission to Springfield, and we went to his
home together. I had with me a copy of the Maine Law,
and we sat up all night looking over that statute. I was
29 For a photograph of this watch, with inscription, see White, Opp. 86.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 77

a young man of about twenty-six, and Lincoln was
about forty-five. . . . Mr. Lincoln set to work to frame a
law, and he worked at it almost constantly for days.
After he had completed it, he had me take it around the
state to get the views of his lawyer friends, and of those
most interested. ... In 1855, he made more than a
score of addresses in the campaign waged under the
direction of the Illinois State Maine Law Alliance that
year for the state-wide prohibition of the liquor traffic.
. . . Lincoln was heart and soul in favor of it/ 30

Since publication, Merwin s story has provoked
extensive comment with pronounced differences of
opinion. On the whole, prohibitionists and liberals
have either accepted or rejected it, according to their
own personal attitude toward the liquor question, but,
even among serious and honest Lincoln students,
Merwin is not without his champions. 31 It is submitted,
however, with all possible deference to those who have
heretofore expressed themselves upon this matter, that
the present study is the first effort to critically analyze
Merwin s statements in the light of exhaustive research.

So far as a diligent examination of the record reveals,
Merwin s sponsors rest their case upon the tangible
evidence of the watch which Merwin says Lincoln
inscribed and presented to him, and upon an alleged
corroboration of Merwin by Henry B. Rankin, of Spring-

30 White, 147.

81 Among these are: "Lincoln and Prohibition," by Charles T. White;
"Latest Light on Abraham Lincoln," by Dr. Erwin Chapman; "Foot
prints of Abraham Lincoln," by Dr. J. T. Hobson.

78 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

field, and A. J. Baber, of Paris, Illinois. For convenience,
this evidence will be examined in the order named.

There is no room for doubt that the watch was pre
sented to Merwin "by the friends of temperance in
Chicago." The Northwestern Christian Advocate of
June 13, 1855, contains an account of this incident
under title of "Pleasant Ceremonies/ which occurred
"at the office of the N. W. C. Advocate, on the evening
of the 8th inst. 32

"The meeting was numerously attended by the
members of the press, the pastors of churches, and the
principal and most influential citizens of our city," and
the reporter mentions some of the most prominent by
name. "Rev. Mr. Watson, Editor of the Northwestern,"
having been "called upon to state the object of the
meeting," did so, and "then proceeded, as instructed by
the appreciative donors, to present Mr. Merwin a
beautiful and massive gold watch which cost upwards of
$200.00, on tendering of which Mr. W. made the follow
ing characteristically felicitous and pertinent address."

Mr. Watson s remarks, highly ornate, according to
the style of the times, interspersed with biblical allu
sions and quotations from the poets, are too long to be
given in full, but in the midst of his address he dramati
cally approached Mr. Merwin and said:

"Turn, sir, ... to the words fitly spoken, inscribed
on a less perishable material than the pages of rock,

32 See files of Northwestern Christian Advocate, Garrett Biblical In
stitution, Evanston, 111.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 79

prayed for by the patient patriarch of Uz. Open, sir,
the golden gates of that elegant souvenir and read:
"Presented by the friends of temperance in Chicago to
J. B. Merwin, Corresponding Secretary of the Illinois
State Maine Law Alliance, as a token of their confidence
and regard for his untiring energy and perseverance in
the campaign of 1855, for Prohibition/ "

There is no mention whatever of the last line: "In
scription written by Abraham Lincoln/ which later
appeared upon the watch. No mention of Lincoln s
name throughout the entire proceedings. Not a word in
dicating Lincoln s presence, notwithstanding the fact
that he was already such an important public figure
that the newspapers always noted his visits to Chicago. 33

Obviously nothing further need be said about the
watch as substantive or any evidence in support of
Merwin s story*

On May 6, 19173 John W. Starr, Jr., of Millersburg,
Pennsylvania^ Lincoln student and author who had
been in correspondence with Merwin, wrote Henry B.
Rankin, one of Springfield s oldest citizens, asking him
about Merwin s association with Lincoln* And on the
loth Rankin replied: "In the temperance campaign of
1854-55, 1 was a youth of 17 yrs and at school. I have a
general recollection of the Springfield lawyers who
favored the Maine Law election in Illinois then B* S.
Edwards, S. T Logan, W. EL Herndon, Abraham

33 See Chicago Daily Journal, Oct. 30, 1854; The Daily Democratic
Press, July 9, 1855; Angle, "Day by Day/ 43-80.

8o LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

Lincoln 5 J. H. Matheny are among them. I consider
Major J. B. Merwin a truthful, reliable man, and that
what he says would be substantially correct/ 34

It will be observed that here Rankin merely states
that Lincoln "favored" the prohibition law. Nothing is
said about any activity on his part, but, like Merwin,
Rankings memory seemed to improve with age. Four
years later, at eighty-four, he wrote Charles T. White: 35

"Lincoln prepared the first draft of the law for sub
mission to the Legislature. He took it over to Judge
S. T. Logan s office for any change the judge thought
should be made. They both discussed the act as Lincoln
had drawn it. The judge had the manuscript several
days and added such revisions and changes as he deemed
would facilitate its adoption by the Legislature, and
took it back to Lincoln, Lincoln approved of the judge s
alterations. They then canvassed the matter as to who
would be most proper to present it to some member of
the Legislature to bring before the Legislature.

"Lincoln advised that they both go over to the law
office of Stuart & Edwards (both of whom had gone
over from the Whig to the Democrat party after the
compromise measures of 1850 had passed) and submit
the manuscript to B. S. Edwards, and, if he approved it,
then to insist that he bring it before such members of
the Legislature on the Democratic side who would

34 Quoted in letter from Starr to the author, May 23, 1932.

35 Letter dated Feb. 28, 1921, White, 69.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 8l

introduce it free of any of the Whig odor of Logan, or
the free-soil Whigism of Lincoln.

"This was done. Edwards consented, and adopted
the Act as they had prepared it. He copied the manu
script in his own handwriting and interested his party
friends in the Legislature to secure its adoption. All
three thus had a hand in it. I heard Edwards in a speech
in the courthouse at Petersburg in 1855 advocating its
adoption by the referendum then before the state, say
that he wrote the law/

The wealth of detail in this letter about an incident
which had occurred sixty-six years before, written by
one who had been, as he wrote Starr, "a youth of 17
and at school," and who in 1917 had only "a general
recollection" of those who "favored the Maine Law,"
is truly amazing.

If Rankin, as we must assume, did not know these
details at the time he wrote Starr in 1917, from whom
did he learn them later? All of Lincoln s Illinois as
sociates, personal and political, had long since passed
away. He did not claim to have had his memory re
freshed by existing records, newly discovered or other
wise.

If, on the other hand, Rankin did know that Lincoln
was the author of the prohibition measure before 1917,
the matter is all the more inexplicable.

In 1910, Rev. Joseph Fort Newton, with access to
many hitherto unpublished documents, particularly the
full correspondence between Herndon and Theodore

82 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

Parker, wrote a brilliant book entitled "Lincoln and
Herndon." In his preface, he acknowledges his in
debtedness to "Mr. Henry B. Rankin, whose reminis
cences and suggestions were invaluable/ yet Newton,
in discussing the Maine Law contest in Illinois, declares:
"Lincoln neither prohibitionist nor abolitionist held
aloof, not wishing to divert attention from the supreme
question of the age." 36

Did Rankin tell Newton this? It would be unfair to
infer that he did. But certainly he did not, in his
"reminiscences and suggestions," tell Newton what he
later wrote Starr and White.

After the publication of "Lincoln and Herndon,"
Rankin had six years in which to meditate upon New
ton s error before writing a book of his own in 1916,
styled "Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln."
At the beginning of this volume, Rankin announces the
motive which had Induced him, after all these years, to
write of Lincoln. "There are," he says "certain impor
tant parts of his life and of influences that were strong
there in the development of the inner and greater
Lincoln, that have never been told. Some of these told are
sadly defective. There are slurs and caricatures,luminous
with their distortions, that I wish to see removed as
excrescences from many of the so-called accepted
listorical accounts of the personality of Lincoln." 37

36 Newton, 77.

37 Rankin, "Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln," 8.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 83

Then Rankin marches blithely through 399 pages,
flashing his bright blade of truth,, lopping off "excres
cences/ puncturing "myths/ adding here and there
some illuminating and hitherto unknown incident in his
hero s life. At one point he speaks of Lincoln s convic
tion "of the evils of trafficking in and using ardent
spirits/ 38 and one would suppose that this reference
should have reminded the author of the "so-called ac
cepted historical accounts" that Lincoln, as Lamon
says, "disliked sumptuary laws and would not pre
scribe by statute what other men should eat or drink,"
and, as Gourley says, "took no part in the great temper
ance movement," and, as stated by Newton, was no
"prohibitionist" and "held aloof." Yet the author
finally brings his book to a close, leaving this hoary
"excrescence" serenely intact.

However, readers who are inclined to accept Merwin s
story, and Rankin as a corroborating witness, may seek
to excuse Rankin s singular omission by saying that
Starr did not write Rankin about Merwin s claim until
1917, a year after the "Personal Recollections" were
published, nor did Rankin write White until 1921, and
that, if Rankin had written another book he would cer
tainly have published to the world what he had set
down at length in personal communications.

There are two things which would, of course, impair
the plausibility of this contention. One is that Rankin,
having lived in Springfield all those years, quite familiar

38 Rankin, "Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln "* 80.

84 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

with Lincoln literature, knew perfectly well what
Lamon, Newton and others had said about Lincoln and
the prohibition campaign of i855 > an d must have been
acutely aware of the local tradition about it. And the
other is that Rankin did write a second book.

In 1924,, seven years after he had told Starr that
Lincoln favored prohibition and "substantially" en
dorsed Merwin, and three years after he had informed
White that Lincoln was, in fact, the author of the Il
linois Maine Law> Rankin published a volume en
titled "Intimate Character Sketches of Abraham
Lincoln/ consisting of 335 pages. With Merwin dead,
but his story still under fire, the Eighteenth Amend
ment adopted and in full force, national prohibition at
its floodtide, memorials being erected throughout the
country to those hardy, courageous pioneers in the great
movement which had slowly but finally achieved its
goal how appropriate it would have been for Rankin
in this book to have both vindicated Merwin and placed
a new wreath upon the brow of Abraham Lincoln !

In searching these pages of Rankin s second book,
one finds reference to "the early days of temperance re
form," but again the author is wholly silent on Lincoln
and prohibition.

Of course, there may be some who attach derogatory
significance to the fact that Rankin, after the elapse of
sixty-four years, in private correspondence, readily
identified Lincoln as a prohibitionist, and finally as the
author of the Illinois law, but omitted to do so on the

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 85

two occasions when he had an opportunity to reveal this
important information publicly. But waiving this, and
attributing to the old man every integrity of purpose, it
is apparent that his attempted corroboration of Merwin
is altogether unconvincing. 39

The remaining evidence which is alleged to confirm
Merwin grows out of a letter which John G. Woolley, a
temperance writer, wrote in January 1914, to A. J.
Baber, eighty-two years of age, who was a prominent
citizen of Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, asking Baber to
tell him what he knew of Lincoln as a temperance man.
Apparently, Woolley referred to Lincoln as a prohibition
ist, because Baber replied: 40

"I know he was a full-fledged temperance man, but
as to being a prohibitionist I have forgotten whether he
was really a prohibitionist, but I know he was an ardent
temperance man." Baber went on to relate that he be
came acquainted with Lincoln when he came to attend
the Edgar Circuit Court. "Lincoln would follow the
circuit; this brought him to Paris twice a year for quite
a number of years.

"While at court session in 1855," continued Baber,
"my business called me to Paris, and I saw Lincoln and
Ficklin, Linder and Judge Harlan, sitting in the shade
of the Paris House. I went to where they were."

39 Rev. William E. Barton, noted Lincoln authority, seriously doubted
the accuracy of Rankin s recollections concerning Abraham Lincoln.
Barton, "Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman," 92-94.

40 Baber to Woolley, Jan. 24, 1914, White, 150.

86 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

During the conversation "Lincoln spoke up and said
that CoL Baldwin had invited him to come to his place
and make a temperance speech, and it was about time
he was going Linder and Ficklin opposed his going
rather made sport of it/* but after a while,, no one having
come for him, "Lincoln started afoot and walked to the
place of speaking, six miles out. ... It was a hot day
and Lincoln wore a long linen duster and made the trip
just to make a temperance speech walked six miles on
a hot day/

Doubtless Baber was doing his best to accurately re
call an incident which, as he thought, occurred fifty-nine
years before. Certainly, if Lincoln made a temperance
speech in 1855, prior to June 4th of that year, it could
hardly have failed to be in favor of prohibition. But the
surrounding circumstances strongly indicate that Baber
was mistaken as to time.

It is quite true, as Baber says, that Lincoln often
came to Edgar County on his trips around the circuit,
but in 1853^ Edgar and several other counties were cut
off from the Eighth Judicial Circuit that Lincoln regu
larly traveled. 41

Moreover, only one session of the Edgar Circuit
Court was held in 1855, and this convened on April
i6th and adjourned April 26th. 42

The records show that from Monday, April pth, to
Friday, April 2oth, the McLean Circuit Court was in

41 Angle, "Abraham Lincoln Circuit Lawyer." Lincoln Centennial As
sociation papers, 1928, 28.

Order Book 4, i, Edgar Circuit Court.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 87

session at Bloomington, more than a hundred miles
from Paris, with no rail connection, and that Lincoln
was in attendance there; that on Saturday, April 2ist,
he was at Springfield, and that from Monday, April
2jrd, to Wednesday, April 25th, he was trying cases
every day in the Woodford Circuit Court at Metamora,
more than one hundred and fifty miles from Paris. 43

According to the order books of the Paris Circuit
Court, Lincoln had no cases at the Spring Term in 1855,
and, in fact, none after the Spring Term of 1853, when
Edgar County was transferred to another judicial
district. 44

Furthermore, it will be noticed that Baber says that
Linder "opposed" Lincoln s temperance appointment
"rather made sport of it/* but this could not have oc
curred after the beginning of 1854, since Linder was
himself an avowed prohibitionist, and on February 22,
1854, addressed the Maine Law Alliance at Springfield.

"Mr. Linder came full into the field/ says the
Illinois Journal, "and pointed out a course for the
friends of prohibition which he thought would secure
the passage of a law by the next Legislature, to carry
out that principle. Mr. Linder was eloquent, and his

43 Angle: "Lincoln Day by Day," 67-69. Distances are reckoned ac
cording to public highways as shown by Peck & Messinger s map of Il
linois, 1853 Ed.

44 Letter from Arnold Moss, Circuit Clerk, to the author, Oct. 25, 1933.
See also letter from Lincoln to Jacob Harding, editor of "Paris-Prairie
Beacon," May 25, 1855, which indicates that he had not been in Paris for
a considerable length of time. Tracy, 57; Angle: "Lincoln Day by Day,"
73-

88 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

speech sparkled with wit, irony, and occasionally a
touch of sarcasm/ 45

It can hardly be doubted that the incident described
by Baber, which Merwin s defenders have emphasized
so strongly, actually did happen at some time or an
other,, but that it occurred in 1855 * s beyond reasonable
probability. Both Rankin and Baber, as old men are
wont to do, simply mixed imagination with their
memories.

Having considered in detail the testimony which is
usually cited in confirmation of the Merwin story, the
following observations from Lincoln s own son would
seem to finally dispose of the matter. Shortly after
Merwin s death,, Mr. Charles T. White wrote Robert T.
Lincoln, who promptly replied:

"You will perhaps be surprised to know that I never heard of
James B, Merwin until a few months ago when someone wrote me
in regard to some of his quotations of my father. I, thereupon,
obtained a book I had not before seen called Footprints of Abraham
Lincoln/ by Rev, J. T. Hobson, and in this book I found much
mention of Mr. Merwin, and I must confess to you that I was
dumfounded to know that my father had a friend who claimed
such intimacy with him, and of whom I knew nothing whatever.

"I was surprised, too, by some of his statements which indi
cated that he accompanied my father on a long temperance cam
paign in Illinois at a time when I supposed my father was giving
all the attention he could possibly take away from his professional
work, upon which depended his living, in a campaign against the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise. You will find in Nicolay &
Hay reference to the political work, but none to the temperance
work at any such time.

45 Illinois Journal, Feb. 23, 1854.

THE MAINE LAW CAMPAIGN 89

"You may think that I was too young to do so, but I very well
remember that political campaign of my father, and even drove
him to a number of meetings; if it is true, as I believe it is, that I
never heard him speak of Merwin, it is at least queer/ 4S

In conclusion, it may also be pointed out that no
personal letter or document written by any of Lincoln s
contemporaries has ever been found which supports the
contention that Lincoln took any part in the Illinois
Maine Law election. And the most careful examination
of Illinois newspapers has failed to disclose any refer
ence to Lincoln s connection with it, although notices of
meetings, and the names of speakers frequently appear.

The Illinois State Register, leading Democratic
organ in Central Illinois, which Herndon called a
"slaveite whiskey paper," was strongly opposed to the
reform movement. 47 The anti-prohibition Germans were
Democrats, but Lincoln was drawing them rapidly into
the party opposed to slavery. The Register would have
been quick to circulate any news of Lincoln s prohibi
tion activities.

So we may be sure that Lincoln, with his usual
astuteness, neither said nor did anything that might
offend any group or faction of the anti-slavery element
who opposed prohibition, and that, regardless of how he
may have voted, he took no part in this contest that
raged so fiercely about him in the eventful spring of
1855.

Robert T. Lincoln to Charles T. White, Apr. 30, 1917. White, 159.
47 Newton, 78; See Illinois State Register, Apr. 3, 1855, et seq.

CH A P T E R VII

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS

SPRINGFIELD, when Abraham Lincoln moved there
in 1837, was a rude, unattractive frontier town of less
than two thousand inhabitants* Built around an open
square, later occupied by the State House, the streets
were entirely unimproved. In summer traffic stirred up
clouds of dust that settled like a pall over houses and
shrubbery. In winter wagons sank to the hubs and
horses to their knees in the black sticky mire.

But the town, proud, wide-awake and eager for dis
tinction, had just achieved its greatest civic ambition.
It was now the capital of the state. New buildings were
going up, the population was increasing signs of the
steady growth which in a few years made Springfield one
of the most prosperous cities in Central Illinois.

Society, although comparatively free and easy after
the pioneer manner, was not without its cliques and
select groups,, the aristocracy being largely of Kentucky
origin. The use of alcoholic beverages was, of course,
quite general, and its presence at banquets and other
festive functions is frequently mentioned in the public
press.

Reading the records, one does not find much men
tion of drinking on the part of the clergy, as was true of

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 91

an earlier day. 1 The temperance movement of the forties
seemed to have militantly arrayed the ministers on the
side of reform., but the members of the legal profession
showed no such hostility toward liquor.

The Springfield lawyers, including Lincoln, generally
prepared their briefs in the Supreme Court Library at
the State House, and one of them relates that "with but
few exceptions, they drank their toddy," making fre
quent visits to a jug of good whisky which Col. Warren,
the Clerk of the Court, "usually hid from sight, but
which was never so cleverly concealed that the wise ones
could not find it/ 2

Out on the circuit, tippling shops and tap-rooms
clustered about the courthouse, and when a court was
established in Christian County, the two buildings first
erected were a courthouse and a saloon. 3

Examinations for admission to the bar were ex
ceedingly lax and informal, and it was customary for the
young applicant to provide a bottle of whisky or
brandy for the delectation of the .examiner. This Mr.
Bodkin of Alton found out when he appeared before
Judge Thomas C. Brown of the Supreme Court. No
liquor being in sight, the eminent jurist inquired:

"Are you a judge of good brandy ?"

Bodkin took the hint, and soon a flask of the best
brandy and a bowl of loaf sugar were set before His

1 See "Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, "the Methodist circuit rider.

2 Herndon in Weik, 207.

3 "Recollections of the Bench & Bar of Central Illinois, * address by
James C. Conkling, Jan. 12, 1881 Fergus Historical Series, No. 22.

92 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

Honor, who sipped a stiff toddy meditatively before be
ginning the examination.

Presently he asked: "Mr. Bodkin, have you read
Blackstone and Chitty?"

"Oh, yes, sir," replied Bodkin.

"What do you think of them as authors?"

"I think highly of them," said Bodkin.

Judge Brown mixed himself another toddy.

"Have you read Shakespeare?" he inquired.

"Oh, yes," answered Bodkin.

"You greatly admire him, Mr. Bodkin?"

"Oh, beyond all the power of language to express,"
exclaimed Bodkin.

"Do you know there was no such person as Shake
speare?" asked Brown.

"Indeed I did not," confessed Bodkin.

"It is true," solemnly declared the judge. "Then you
do not know who wrote the work entitled "The Plays of
Shakespeare* ?"

"If he did not write them, I do not know," replied
the bewildered Bodkin.

"Would you like to know?" asked the judge.

"I certainly would," was the answer.

"Then," said Brown, with ponderous gravity, "as
you have shown in this examination the highest qualifi
cations to be admitted to the bar, I will say to you, in
the strictest confidence, what I have never said to

Bar of the Tremont House in Chicago

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 93

anyone before,, that / am the author of those plays ! Mr.
Bodkin, write out your license, and I will sign it." 4

Lincoln, at least during the early years of his Spring
field residence, continued to observe the rule of total
abstinence which he had practiced in New Salem.
Joshua Speed, whose intimate association with Lincoln
began on the very first day of his arrival, 5 and continued
until the spring of 1841, when Speed returned to Ken
tucky, says: "He had no vices,, even as a young man.
. . . Most men who have been great students, such as
he was, in their hours of idleness, have taken to the
bottle^ to cards or dice. He had no fondness for any of
these." 6

It is interesting to note Lincoln s first recorded con
tact with the evil of excessive drinking in his new sur
roundings. A shoemaker who lived near his office was in
the habit of getting drunk and whipping his wife.
Lincoln warned him that if he did not quit it he would
thrash him, and for a while things went along quietly.
But a few weeks later the shoemaker again resorted to
his favorite pastime, and Lincoln and James Matheny
dragged him over into the back yard of the courthouse,
stripped off his shirt and tied him to the town pump.
Then they sent for his wife, gave her a long, limber
switch and told her to "light in," which, as Matheny
says, "she did lustily and well." Of course, the culprit

4 Linder, 74.

5 "It was in the spring of 1837, and on the very day that he obtained
his license that our intimate acquaintance began/ Speed, 21.

6 Speed to Herndon, Dec. 6, 1866. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

94 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

swore vengeance, but neither Lincoln nor Matheny
ever heard any further reports of his misconduct. 7

As to Lincoln s personal use of liquor after the fervor
of the Washington movement had subsided, there is not
complete agreement among those who knew him during
the Springfield years.

"He told me/ says Swett, "not more than a year
before he was elected President,, that he had never
tasted liquor in his life." 8

Leonard Swett first became acquainted with Lincoln
in 1849, an d remained one of his closest friends as long
as he lived. Together they traveled the circuit for eleven
years, stopping at the same country taverns and often
sleeping in the same bed. Swett was an able lawyer, a
man of strict integrity and unimpeachable veracity, and
yet the numerous errors in the article where this state
ment appears, which he wrote in 1886, particularly as
to his recollection of what Lincoln told him about his
early life, is another striking illustration of the tricks
which an old man s memory often plays upon him when
he attempts to relate things he heard a long time ago.

The same may also be said of that fine old news
paper man, Horace White, who sometime in the nineties
recalled that on one occasion Lincoln had said to him
that he "had never taken a drink of any alcoholic
beverage in the past twenty years." 9

Herndon (2 VoL Ed.), I, 180.

8 Swett in Rice, 455. This statement was made in 1886.

9 Weik, 232.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 95

Obviously if Lincoln had never "tasted liquor in his
life/ he would hardly have said to White that he had
not taken a drink in twenty years* While on the other
hand, if White s recollection was correct, it would ap
pear that Swett s memory was at fault. Most probably
both are in error as to the exact language Lincoln used
in expressing the undisputed fact that he was not nor
had he ever been a "liquor drinker/* as that term was
ordinarily understood.

John Hay declares that Lincoln, although he had no
desire for alcoholic stimulants, did not remain "always on
principle a total abstainer, as he was during a part of his
early life in the fervor of the Washingtonian reform." 10

In 1872, Ward Hill Lamon, whom Lincoln set down
in his own handwriting as "entirely reliable and trust
worthy my particular friend", wrote that "Mr. Lin
coln indulged in no sensual excesses; he ate moderately
and drank temperately when he drank at all. . * * He
had no taste for spiritous liquors, and when he took them
it was a punishment to him, not an indulgence." 11
On July 4, 1889, he replied to a letter from Miss Kate
Field: "You ask my recollection of Mr. Lincoln s views
on the question of temperance and prohibition. I look
upon him as one of the safest temperance men I ever
knew. He was neither what might be called a drinking
man, a total abstainer, nor a prohibitionist/ 12

10 "Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln/ by John Hay,
Century Magazine, Nov. 1890.

11 Lamon, 480.

Kate Field s "Washington," Vol. X, No. 24, 371-37^ Dec. 12, 1894.

96 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

And Lamon left a statement which was found among
his papers after his death that "none of his nearest
associates ever saw Mr. Lincoln voluntarily call for a
drink/ but that they had seen him "take whiskey with
a little sugar in it to avoid the appearance of dis
countenancing it to his friends. If he could have avoided
it without giving offense, he would have gladly done so." 13

Lincoln Dubois, son of Jesse K. Dubois^ one of
Lincoln s very intimate political and personal friends,,
in his unpublished reminiscences, corroborates Lamon :
"He decidedly was not what would be called a drinking
man, but made no fuss about it at all; took it when
offered, but seldom drank it/ 14

Herndon, who, of course, was in a better position
than anyone else to know what his partner s personal
habits were, is entirely silent on Lincoln s use of liquor,
in his three- volume biography. But he wrote Jesse Weik,
of Greencastle, Indiana, that Lincoln "did sometimes
take a horn when he thought it would do him good,"
although "he had no very strong thirst or appetite for
stimulating drinks or tonics/ 15

However, there must have been long intervals even
in the later years when Lincoln was practically, if not
actually, a total abstainer. Judge Ewing speaks of an
incident which occurred in 1854 when he visited
Stephen A. Douglas at his hotel in Bloomington. "A

13 Lamon, "Recollections," 305.

14 Dubois MSS, owned by Frank E. Stevens, Sycamore, 111.
^Herndon to Weik, Feb. 5, 1887, Weik MSS.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 97

pitcher of water, some glasses and a decanter of red
liquor" stood on the table. Presently Lincoln came in,
and, after a little conversation, Douglas said:

"Mr. Lincoln, won t you take something ?"

"No, I think not/ replied Lincoln.

"What!" exclaimed Douglas. "Are you a member of
the Temperance Society?"

"No," said Lincoln, "I am not a member of any
Temperance Society; but I am temperate in this, that I
don t drink anything." 16

The occasions on which Lincoln took "whiskey with
a little sugar in it" must have been very rare at any
period, because several of his associates agree with
Judge Logan, who says: "I never in my life saw Lincoln
taste liquor." 17

Henry C. Whitney, who was on the circuit with
Lincoln more than Logan, though not so much as La-
mon, recalls an incident when he and Lincoln and
several other lawyers drove out to the residence of
Reason Hooten, near Danville, where several varieties
of homemade wine were passed around. "A mere sip of
each affected Lincoln,," relates Whitney, "and he said

16 Ewing in Phillips, 54-5. Lincoln s refusal in this instance would not
have been surprising, in any case. He and Douglas were political rivals
and Douglas was much addicted to liquor. During the "Debates," Lincoln
remarked with unwonted severity: "I flatter myself that thus far my wife
has not found it necessary to follow me around from place to place to
keep me from getting drunk." Weik, 236*

17 MSS dated July 6, 1875, owned by Mrs* Alice H. Wadsworth, Mt.
Morris, N. Y.

98 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

comically, Tellers, I am getting drunk! That was the
nearest approach to inebriety I ever saw him." 18

"I am entitled to little credit for not drinking/ Lin
coln told Herndon, "because I hate the stuff. It is un
pleasant and always leaves me flabby and undone." 19

And Judge Joseph Gillispie wrote Herndon that
Lincoln "was a remarkably temperate man,, eschewing
every indulgence^ not so much, as it seemed to me, from
principle as a want of appetite." 20

Fragments of the Diller Drug Store ledger contain
occasional purchases of liquor charged to Lincoln and
delivered to his residence, such as:

"1859 June 3, A. Lincoln

To hot. brandy $2.00

June 13, A. Lincoln

To hot. brandy $2.00" 21

But James Gourley expressed the opinion, based
upon observation as his next-door neighbor, that Lin
coln "scarcely ever drank" and only "as a medicine, I
think." 22 At any rate, it seems reasonably certain that
the Lincolns did not keep liquor in their home for
beverage purposes.

On Saturday evening, May 19, 1861, Lincoln re
ceived formal notification of his nomination as the

i* Whitney, 157. " Herndon to Weik, Feb. 5, 1887, Wiek MSS.

20 Gillispie to Herndon, Jan. 31, 1866. Herndon-Lamon MSS. "This
excellent lawyer and skillful politician was one of the five or six men with
whom Lincoln may be said ever to have been intimate." Beveridge, II, 219.

21 Shutes, 58. These two items are the only liquor purchases shown by
the ledgers for 1857, 58 and 59. Lincoln was in Chicago on the date of the
first purchase. Angle, "Lincoln Day by Day," 283.

22 James Gourley s statement, Herndon-Lamon MSS.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 99

Republican candidate for President of the United
States. Several hours before the Committee arrived,,
Gustave Koerner and Judge Peck went up to the Lin
coln home. On a table in the library stood a number of
glasses, two decanters of brandy, and under the table a
basket of champagne which some of Lincoln s friends
had sent over for the entertainment of the Committee.

In a few moments, Mrs. Lincoln came in, and
Koerner and Peck said to her that, inasmuch as many
Easterners were strong temperance people, the "treat
ing" of the Committee might have a bad political effect.
Mrs. Lincoln, however, who had a vivid recollection of
the frosted mint juleps which her father had served to
Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, and other Whig
leaders back in Kentucky, "remonstrated in her very
lively manner." Presently Lincoln walked over from the
sitting room across the hall and stood in the door listen
ing to the argument. At last he said soothingly/ Perhaps,
Mary, these gentlemen are right. After all is over we
may see about it, and some may stay and have a good
time." 23

It was past seven o clock that evening when the
Committee, after an "elegant" dinner at the Chenery
House, reached the Lincoln residence and were ushered
into the library, which impressed one of the delegates
as a "rather bare looking room." The brandy and cham
pagne had disappeared, and a silver-plated pitcher now
occupied the center of the white marble-topped table.

23 Koerner, II> 93-95.

100 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

The Republican candidate, "tall and ungainly in his
black suit of apparently new but ill-fitting clothes, his
long tawny neck emerging gauntly from his turned-
down collar, his melancholy eyes sunken deep in his
haggard face, stood quietly listening, without visible
embarrassment, to the dignified speech of Mr. Ashmun,
the president of the convention. When Ashmun had
concluded, Lincoln responded with "a few appropriate,
earnest and well shaped sentences/ Then followed a
brief, informal conversation "in which the hearty sim
plicity of Lincoln s nature was shown." Ice water was
graciously served, and after a round of handshaking the
Committee left to accept other hospitalities where liquor
and champagne flowed freely, numerous toasts were pro
posed, bands of music played, and fireworks were set off. 24

A few days later, John W. Bunn met Lincoln on the
street and asked him how his distinguished guests had
received the cold water which he had served them at his
house. "Greatly to my surprise," chuckled Lincoln, "they
drank freely of it, and I never knew the reason till one
of them confided that they had just come from a sump
tuous dinner at the hotel where they were given bounti
ful quantities of everything to drink but water, so that
when they reached my house they were so dry, notwith
standing the refreshments at the hotel, even water was
stimulating enough to satisfy their appetites." 25

24 SchurZj II, 187-80; Schurz was a delegate to the Republican Conven
tion from Wisconsin and a member of the Notification Committee.

25 Weik, 273.

//, /$% o

Lincoln s letter on reception of Notification Committee

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS IOI

This unorthodox reception of the Notification Com
mittee evidently excited considerable comment,, and,
having received certain communications about it,
Lincoln wrote the following letter, which he marked

"Private & Confidential" :

"Springfield, 111.
June u, 1860.
J. Mason Haight, Esq.

My Dear Sir:

I think it would be improper for me to write, or say anything
to, or for, the public upon the subject of which you inquire. I,
therefore, wish the letter I do write to be held as strictly confi
dential. Having kept house sixteen years, and having never held
the cup* to the lips of my friends there, my judgment was that I
should not, in my new position, change my habits in this respect.
What actually occurred upon this occasion of the Committee visit
ing me, I think it would be better for others to say.

Yours respectfully,

A. LINCOLN." 26

Yet, it is a curious fact that the President-elect, at
the time he wrote Haight, was having trouble over a
hotel bill that involved items of liquor. On Sept. iyth,
1859, Lincoln*had made a speech in Cincinnati, and he
and Mrs. Lincoln and Tad were entertained over the
week-end by the local Republican Committee at the
Burnet House. When Lincoln left the hotel on Monday,
he was informed by the clerk that the bill had been paid,
but on June 5,, 1860, he received a letter, together with a
bill,, from the Burnet House, saying that "We relied
upon the Republican Committee, but as yet have not

" Hertz, 778.

102 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

been able to find any one willing to take the responsi
bility of paying same." The enclosed statement amounted
to $53-5> which included a charge for liquor and to
bacco in the sum of $7.50, and "occupancy of room No.
15. Committee,, $5.00." On June 7, 1860,, Lincoln wrote
W. M. Dickson, of Cincinnati, sending him a copy of
the Burnet House communication, stating that he had
been "distinctly told the bill was settled. ... As to
wines > liquors & Cigars/ said Lincoln, "we had none
absolutely none. These may have been in Room 15 by
order of the Committee, but I do not recollect them at
all. Please look into this and write me. I can and will
pay it if it is all right, but I do not wish to be diddled/ " 27

Men with whom Lincoln came in contact were not
always able to appreciate his failure to indulge in the
habits that gave them pleasure, and he was fond of tell
ing a story on himself which illustrated this fact. One
morning in 1849, Lincoln left Randall s Tavern in Spring
field for Washington. The only other passenger in the
stagecoach was a well-dressed, affable Kentuckian, who
was on his way home from Missouri.

The two men immediately fell into conversation, and
after a while the Kentuckian took a chew of tobacco and
handed the plug to Lincoln, who politely said that he
did not chew. Later on, as the clumsy vehicle jolted and
swayed over the rough, dusty road and conversation
lagged, the stranger pulled a leather case from his

27 Angle, 247. Cincinnati Daily Commercial, Feb. 16, 1861. The bill was
thereupon promptly paid by the Cincinnati Republicans.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 103

pocket and offered his companion a cigar. Lincoln
thanked him, but said that he never smoked*

Finally, as lunch.time approached, the traveler pro
duced a flask from his satchel. "Well, my friend/ he
remarked, "seeing you do not smoke or chew, perhaps
you will take a little of this French brandy. "Tis a prime
article and a good appetizer besides." But Lincoln again
declined this highest and best demonstration of Ken
tucky hospitality. In the afternoon at the junction, as
the gentleman from the Bluegrass state was about to
take another stage for Louisville, he shook hands
cordially.

"See here," he said smilingly, "you are a clever but
peculiar companion. I may never see you again, and I
do not want to offend you. But I want to say this: My
experience has taught me that a man who has no vices
has damned few virtues. Good day/ 28

The fact that Lincoln was an exceedingly temperate
man made it difficult for his friends to understand his
fondness for the society of certain associates whose
habits were notoriously bad. Whitney complains that
Lincoln would play billiards by the hour with George
Laurence, "a worthless, drunken fellow, who turned
lawyer late in life." 29

Judge David Davis^ who presided over the Eighth
Judicial Circuit, accounted for Lincoln s association

28 Herndon, 302-3.

29 Whitney, 480; Beveridge, II, 230. On May 27, 1854, Lincoln and
Swett signed Laurence s law license. Angle, 129.

104 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

with a few "low and vulgar" men by the fact that "he
loved sharp, witty things, loved jokes., etc./ and ex
pressed the opinion that "Lincoln used these men merely
to whistle off sadness, gloom and unhappiness." 30 But
Davis was sure that Lincoln "hated drunkenness."

However, Lincoln did not allow his personal aver
sion to liquor nor his temperance views to interfere with
the performance of professional duties. The records show
that he appeared with impartial zeal as counsel for
saloon keepers and for reform crusaders, who destroyed
the property of saloon keepers.

In 1846, at the April term of the McLean Circuit
Court, Lincoln represented Roswell Munsell, who kept
bar in the Bloomington Hotel at Bloomington, Illinois,
in a suit against William H. Temple over the validity
of his liquor license. 31

In 1852, he and James Haines acted as arbitrators
over the ownership of five gallons of peach brandy, and
the award is in Lincoln s handwriting. 32

In 1853, Lincoln defended Patrick Sullivan, who was
convicted at the October term of the Macon Circuit
Court for selling liquor without a license. The fine was
only $10.00, which was less than the costs of an appeal,
but Lincoln took the case to the Supreme Court and
strenuously, though ineffectually, contended that the
existing laws of the state did not prohibit the sale of

30 David Davis to Herndon, Sept. 19, 1866. Herndon-Lamon MSS.

* Munsell v. Temple, 8 III, 93.

32 Photostat in Illinois State Historical Library.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 105

intoxicants without a license. The wholesale grocers at
Springfield sold large quantities of liquor to saloon
keepers in Central Illinois, and were vitally interested
in the outcome of this litigation. Since this action was
apparently a test case, it is not improbable that Lincoln
actually represented Jacob Bunn, who was one of his
regular clients, his close personal friend, and a large
wholesale grocer. 33

Lincoln s participation in the Sullivan case on be
half of the liquor element is all the more interesting,,
because his partner, the year previous, had represented
the temperance forces in an important proceeding before
the Supreme Court, which had sustained the constitu
tionality of the liquor law passed by the Legislature in
1851. Curiously enough, the temperate Lincoln kept
himself out of this case entirely, while Herndon, intem
perate, but a devoted prohibitionist, appeared alone
"for the people/ 34

But in May 1854, Lincoln represented nine women
who were indicted for "riot" in the Dewitt Circuit
Court. According to the Decatur Gazette, a man named
Tanner had opened a "doggery" in the town of Marion,
"much to the annoyance of the fair sex," who called
upon and requested him to "desist his traffic of liquor."
The request being refused, the women, "in a quiet and
respectful manner, took the liquor and turned it out

33 Sullivan v. People, 15 111. 233.

34 Johnson v. The People, 14 111. 196, "I argued that case for the
People/* says Herndon. See "Letters on Temperance," by W. H. Herndon,
1855, 15. Reprint of articles published in 111, Journal.

106 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

upon the ground." At the trial more than a hundred
ladies were present to witness Lincoln s defense of the
"fair daughters of Adam." The jury having imposed the
insignificant fine of $2.00, the editor of the Gazette felt
that Lincoln and his clients had won a victory, and ex-
claimed > "Huzzah for the Marion ladies!" 35

In this same month, Frederick Pearl and Sylvester
Pearl filed a suit in the Tazewell Circuit Court against
Alexander Graham and twenty other men for trespass,
claiming that they had entered claimants dwelling and
destroyed certain liquors and other property. The re
sponse filed by the defendants is in Lincoln s hand
writing, and alleges that "the supposed dwelling house
in said declaration mentioned was a common, disorderly
and ill-governed house, within which, by the permission
and procurement of the plaintiff, drunkenness, idleness,
quarreling, profane swearing, obscenity and other offen
sive acts and noises were then and there practiced and
encouraged, to the great injury and annoyance of the
peaceful citizens of the neighborhood." A year later,
May 4, 1855, the defendants were tried and fifteen of
them acquitted, six were found guilty, and damages
assessed at $>5o.oo. 36

In a similar case over in McLean County, Lincoln
was not so successful. His clients, Ephriam Platt and
A. B. Davidson, were fined $600.00 and costs, according
to the Bloomington Pantagraph, for "destroying certain

35 Decatur Gazette clipped in Illinois State Register, May 17, 1854.

36 Photostatic copy of record in possession of author.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 107

barrels of spiritual comfort" belonging to the firm of
Reynolds & Fuller. 37

On June 12, 1855,, eight days after the Maine Law
election, the case of George Organ and Benjamin
Kessler, jointly indicted for selling liquor without a
license, was called in the Sangamon Circuit Court, and
the firm of Lincoln and Herndon is noted on the docket
as counsel for defendants. 38

Not only did Lincoln make no distinction among his
clients with reference to temperance, but, as Dubois
says, he "made no fuss" about drinking on the part of
his friends and associates* "I never heard him declaim
against the use of tobacco or other stimulants," declared
Judge Gillispie. 39 The contemporary press shows that
on many occasions he attended banquets and public
dinners where an amazing number of toasts were offered,
and we may be sure that they were not drunk with
water.

When on July 5, 1858, the Union Fire Company, of
Jacksonville, returned the friendly visit of Springfield s
crack organization called The Pioneers, an elaborate
luncheon was served at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Lincoln
was the guest of honor, and, being called on for a toast,
gallantly responded with the following:

37 Common Law Record 6, 487 > Tazewell Circuit Court; the Blooming-
ton Pantograph, Sept. 17, 1856.

38 The People of Illinois v. George Organ and Benjamin Kessler,
Record Book N, 518, Sangamon Circuit Court.

a * Gillispie to Herndon, Jan. 31, 1866, Herndon-Lamon MSS.

108 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

"The Pioneer Fire Company. May they extinguish
all the bad flames, but keep the flame of patriotism ever
burning brightly in the hearts of the ladies/ 40

On the 25th of January, 1859, Springfield celebrated
the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Robert
Burns with a dinner at Concert Hall, which "was well
filled on this -interesting occasion/

"Among the invited guests/ says the reporter "we
observed the Hon. Abraham Lincoln of this city and
U. F. Linder, Esq., of Coles County. The banquet was
spread by Myers and embraced all that could be desired
by the greatest epicure. The company sat down at nine
o clock., and after satisfying the appetite with eatables,
the mountain dew was brought out, and, together with
a number of mysterious looking bottles, was freely circu
lated during the remainder of the evening. . . . The regu
lar toasts were responded to in order by Messrs. Lincoln,
Linder, Matheny, Blaisdell, and others, and the pauses
were filled up with songs by Messrs. Ewing, Knox, Childs,
Eastin and others, together with instrumental music by
the Young American Band/ 41

It is certain that there was never any restraint be
cause of Lincoln s presence among the jolly circuit riders
who regularly gathered after supper in Judge Davis
room at the best tavern in the town where court was
being held. Indeed, he was the outstanding favorite of all

* a Illinois State Journal, July 7, 1858.
41 Illinois State Journal, Jan. 27, 1 859.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS 109

that gay, versatile group. 42 A bucket of beer stood on the
hearth, a pitcher of whisky on the table, and hour after
hour would swiftly pass in song and story, while Judge
Davis fat sides shook as Lincoln related a humorous
anecdote in his droll inimitable way. And when Lamon
got sufficiently "mellow" someone would exclaim: "Now,
Hill, let s have some music," and Lincoln s Danville
law partner, with his rich baritone and soft Virginia
accent would sing "The Blue-Tailed Fly" or "Cousin
Sally Downard," or some other ballad of equal interest
but less propriety. 43

One night at the old McCormick House in Danville,
Lincoln was tried before a mock tribunal called the
"Ogmathorial Court" on a charge of impoverishing the
bar by his "picayune fees." He was promptly found
guilty and fined one gallon of whisky, "which he paid,
and then kept the crowd in high good humor until mid
night with his stories." 44

Newton says that Lincoln watched Herndon s fight
against the drink habit "with never failing sympathy." 45
This is doubtless true, and certainly his loyalty toward
his young, impetuous partner never wavered. On one
occasion, Lincoln represented Jacob Bunn in an im-

42 Three were later Governors of Illinois, three United States Senators,
two Cabinet members, and when Lincoln became President, he appointed
Davis to the Supreme Court.

^Weik, 217-18.

44 "Lincoln and Lamon: Partners and Friends/ by Clint Clay Tilton.
Transactions Illinois State Historical Society, No. 38, 182.

^Newton, 18.

110 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

portant matter not strictly within the scope of legal
duties, for which he declined to make any charge., saying
that if he should feel at any time that he was entitled
to a fee he would let his client know.

Months passed, and Bunn had almost forgotten the
transaction, when Lincoln, apparently much perturbed,
came to his house one morning about daybreak, and
asked Bunn if he would pay him one hundred dollars as
a fee in the case. Bunn very readily assented, and then
Lincoln hurriedly explained that he did not want the
money for himself, but that three of his friends, one of
whom later proved to be Herndon, had spent the night
in a drunken carousal, had almost wrecked a saloon,
and that the sheriff then had them in his office and would
take them to jail unless the damage was immediately
paid. 46

And yet, so very marked was Lincoln s disinclination
to criticise the conduct of his friends that only once did
he speak to Herndon about his habits during the six
teen years of their partnership.

It was late afternoon of Lincoln s last day in Spring
field. All day crowds had filled the lobby of the Chenery
House where the President-elect now received visitors.
Herndon waited down the street in the frowsy old law
office. Presently Lincoln came in. The lines in his rugged
face were deep with care and fatigue. For a little while
they discussed unfinished legal business and went hastily
over the books of the firm.

46 Weik, 203-4.

THE SPRINGFIELD YEARS III

Then Lincoln threw himself down on the battered,
rickety lounge, and for a few minutes lay with his face
toward the ceiling, without speaking. Suddenly he
blurted out: "Billy, there is one thing I have for some
time wanted you to tell me, but I reckon I ought to
apologize for my nerve and curiosity in asking it even

now."

"What is it?" asked Herndon.

"I want you to tell me/ 5 said Lincoln, "how many
times you have been drunk."

Herndon, though somewhat abashed by the blunt-
ness of this inquiry, told him as best he could, but when
he had finished, Lincoln, instead of delivering the antici
pated lecture, merely said that on several occasions
efforts had been secretly made to have him drop the
junior partner from the firm because of his intemperate
habits, but that he had always declared his intention to
stand by Herndon in spite of his shortcomings.

Then, as though anxious to change the subject,
Lincoln began to talk of the early days of his practice,
recalling the humorous features of various law suits on
the circuit. Thus his reminiscences ran on until dusk crept
through the grimy little windows and it was time to go
home. As he gathered a bundle of books and papers
under his arm and started out, he spoke of the old sign,
"Lincoln & Herndon," which hung on rusty hinges over
the door at the foot of the steps.

"Let it hang there undisturbed," he said in a lowered
voice. "Give our clients to understand that the election

LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

of a President makes no change in the firm of Lincoln
and Herndon. If I live, I am coming back some time,
and then we will go on practicing law as if nothing had
happened/

He lingered for a moment as if to take a last look
at the old quarters, and then passed forever through the
door into the hallway, and down the narrow stairs. 47

47 Weik, 299-301.

CH A PTE R VIII

PRESIDENT LINCOLN

CHAMPAIGN biographies of the little-known Lincoln
which poured from the press following his nomination
in May i86o 5 stressed the fact that "in private life Mr.
Lincoln is a strictly moral and temperate man/ and
many of them went so far as to declare that "he never
drank intoxicating liquors of any sort, not even a glass
of wine." 1

However, in the earlier years of the Republic total
abstinence was not considered an essential nor even an
important qualification for the Presidency. Washington,
although a temperate man according to the standards of
his time, was by no means a total abstainer. His mahog
any wine chest, with its exquisite cut-glass bottles, may
still be seen at Mt. Vernon.

Madeira was the wine customarily used on Wash
ington s table, but at his Thursday dinners and on other
special occasions as many as four different kinds were
often served. 2

1 Thayer & Eldridge, n. See also Biographies by Bartlett, Scripps and
Howard.

2 "It will appear as if the household consumed enormous quantities of
liquor of various sorts, but, as the temperate habits of the President and
all his family are too well known for comment, the large amount of enter
tainment carried on in the house must be held responsible for it." Decatur,

122.

114 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

In April 1789, Washington received the French
minister, Comte de Moustier, who relates that "there
was a great provision of wine and punch, which the
President himself offered me; but I reminded him how
I had objected at Mt. Vernon to that usage." 3

Whisky was distilled on several of his plantations,
and on April 12, 1787, in a quaint and curious contract
which he entered into with one Philip Bates, his gardener,
Bates agrees, for a term of one year, to "conduct him
self soberly, diligently & honestly," and that "he will
not at any time suffer himself to be disguised with
liquor except on the times hereinafter mentioned."
Washington then agrees to provide Bates with various
articles of wearing apparel and "four Dollars at Christ
mas, with which he may be drunk 4 days & 4 nights;
two Dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose; two
dollars also at Whitson tide, to be drunk two days; a
Dram in the morning, & a drink of Grog at dinner or
at noon." 4

Thomas Jefferson entertained lavishly at the White
House during his two terms, and his wine bill amounted
to the sum of $10,855.90. Madeira was Jefferson s favor
ite beverage, but he also bought other fine wines in large
quantities. His purchases for 1803 included five hun
dred bottles of Champagne; two half pipes of wine of O
Eyras from Lisbon; two pipes of Brazil Madeira, two

3 Decatur, 4.

4 Original in Library of Congress.

\^^-^^^^^^^^^ &***

"ZfS tfrx, wy* $ &&*&<"&

&?S^ j& 8 M *tY&~~ *

Asf-ssS?- , JT /^ -~>^i

i&^. * ^/** x*?/*-^* -j- ^**~*^ ~~ * f y^ n r s- S -^>

&%i;2^

Washington s contract with his gardener

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 115

hundred and ninety-four bottles of Chambertin Bur
gundy; fifty bottles of White Hermitage; one hundred
and fifty bottles of Rozan Morgan, and one quarter
cask Mount ain, crop of 1747.

In 1804, the President s guests were entertained with
the best brands of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian., Ger
man, Hungarian and French vintages. 5

A dinner guest at the White House during Madison s
term observed that "there were many French dishes and
exquisite wines, I presume, by the praises bestowed on
them; but I have been so little accustomed to drink that
I could not discern the difference between Sherry and
rare old Burgundy Madeira. Comment on the quality
of the wine seems to form the chief topic after the re
moval of the cloth/ 6

When James Fenimore Cooper attended a White
House dinner, while James Monroe was President, he
relates that at the end of the dessert, Mrs. Monroe
"withdrew, attended by two or three of the most gallant
of the company," and that "no sooner was his wife s
back turned than the President reseated himself, invit
ing his guests to imitate the action/ and that the men
did not rejoin the ladies until after the guests had been
allowed "sufficient time to renew, in a few glasses, the
recollections of similar enjoyments." 7

During the Administration of John Quincy Adams,
Esther Singleton notes that on one occasion he received
a committee of mail contractors who were introduced

5 Singleton, I, 42-43. e Ibid, 62. 7 Singleton, I, 145.

Il6 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

by Henry Clay, Secretary of State; that cakes and wine
were served, and that the President "drank success to
them all through highways and byways." 8

The dinners of Martin Van Buren were famous for
the wide variety of excellent food served. "Champaign,
without ice, was sparingly supplied in long slender
glasses, but there was no lack of sound claret, and with
the dessert several bottles of old Madeira was generally
produced by the host who succinctly gave the age and
history of each." 9 The finest Madeira bore the name of
"The Supreme Court," being the favorite beverage of
the members of that body who made direct importations
every year and sipped it complacently as they consulted
over their cases in council chambers.

When John Tyler brought his bride to the White
House, "a most magnificent Bride s cake and sparkling
Champaign awaited the welcoming guests, and the dis
tinctions of party and of opinion were all forgotten, and
kind feelings and generous impulses seemed to gladden
the hearts of all." 10

It will be also remembered that hard cider was the
beverage of the Harrison campaign. Zachary Taylor,
however, was reported to be a total abstainer, but when
prohibitionists emphasized this fact, it was pointed out
that drinking too freely of ice water had killed him.

There can be no doubt but that liquor drinking was
very widely prevalent among all classes in the national
capital during the first half of the nineteenth century,
8 Singleton, I 3 169. 9 Poore, I, 222. 10 Singleton, I, 292.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 117

and this was particularly true in official society. Ladies
and gentlemen were fascinated by the brilliance of Mr.
Clay s conversation especially after a few glasses of
Madeira or Champagne, and they were vastly amused
by the picturesque escapades of Kentucky s gifted ine
briate., Tom Marshall.

When Jennie Lind gave her first concert in Wash
ington, and the end of her first song was greeted with
tumultuous applause, Mr. Webster, who had been din
ing out that evening, rose with pompous dignity and
made an imposing bow, which was most heartily enjoyed
by the audience. 11

On another occasion, Mr. Webster was called upon
for an impromptu after-dinner speech and being very
much in his "cups/* had to be prompted by a friend
who sat just behind him. The prompter suggested, "The
tariff." Webster resolutely braced himself against the
edge of the table. "The tariff, gentlemen/ he de
clared, "is a subject requiring the profound attention
of the statesmen." Here the Senator paused and nodded
a little, and his friend whispered, "The national debt."
Recovering himself, Webster continued, "And, gentle
men, there is the national debt it should be paid; yes,
gentlemen, it should be paid." Then, stimulated by the
loud cheers, he announced, "I will be hanged if it sha Vt
be!" And taking out his pocketbook, "I will pay it my
self! How much is it?" Considering Webster s well-

" Poore, I, 388.

Il8 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

known financial condition, this incident excited the
mirth of Washingtonians wherever it was related. 12

Except for one brief term which the Springfield
lawyer had spent In Congress/ 3 the Lincolns knew little
about Washington, and nothing whatever of the social
life of the capital. For generations the Southerners, with
their gracious hospitality, had dominated Washington
aristocracy. And in this circle Mrs. Lincoln, with her
Kentucky background, would have been quite at home.
But in 1 86 1, low-hanging war clouds had changed every
thing. The shutters of many fine old houses in the ex
clusive residential sections were closed; their owners
had gone south to cast their fortunes with the young,
eager, chivalrous Confederacy. Others of like sympathies
held aloof from the court of the "Black Republican
queen." Still, there were a few places where the broken
ranks of the social elite gathered before blazing wood
fires and played euchre until midnight, when a bountiful
supper of cold duck, venison pie and broiled oysters
was served, with iced Champagne or Burgundy at
blood heat.

Mrs. John J. Crittenden, the beautiful wife of the
venerable Kentucky Senator, Mrs. Myra Gaines, widow
of the Virginia general, both Southerners, and Mrs.
Stephen A. Douglas and Kate Chase, daughter of the

12 Poore, I, 288.

^ 13 The Lincolns then lived at Widow Sprigg s boarding-house on Capitol
Hill, and the "lone Whig" from Illinois spent "most of his leisure hours
at a nearby bowling alley," where he "played the game with great zest
and spirit," accepting "success and defeat with like good nature and
humor." Busey, 27.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 119

Secretary of the Treasury, were practically all that re
mained of the old "official set/ But in spite of obvious
difficulties, Mrs. Lincoln bravely attempted to carry on
the usual White House functions small state dinners,
receptions and levees until the death of Willie Lincoln
in 1862 cast a permanent shadow over the Executive
Mansion.

Liquor, notwithstanding the denial of some biog
raphers, was undoubtedly served at state dinners during
the Lincoln Administration, as shown by the following
telegrams which have survived the vicissitudes of the
War Department files:

"February i, 64.
Clement Heerdt & Co.
No. 93 Water St.,
New York.

If you have not disposed of the box of Madeira, of similar
quality to the one sent us a few weeks since, please forward it
immediately. MRS- LlNCOLN />

Clement Heerdt & Co. "February 2,5, 64.

93 Water St.,
New York.

Please send immediately one basket Champagne, the Widow
Cliquot brand.

Clement Heerdt & Co. "February 26, 64.

93 Water St.,
New York.

A telegram was sent you in reference to a basket of Cham
pagne. Please send a basket of the kind requested, also another
one of the choicest quality you have in store.

MRS* LINCOLN."

120 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

"February 13, 1865.
C. Heerdt & Co.
93 Water St.,
New York.

Send by express one (i) case Veuve Cliquot Champagne, same
price and quality as before.

MRS. A. LINCOLN." 14

On February 5, 1862, an elaborate state reception
was held at the White House. The President and his
wife received in the East Room. Mrs. Lincoln was
attractively attired in a white satin dress 3 cut decollete
and trimmed with black lace flounces which were looped
up with knots of ribbon, and she wore a head-dress of
flowers. The Green, Red and Blue Rooms of the White
House were thrown open, and were decorated with rare
flowers, and the Marine Band played entrancing music
in the corridor. Robert Lincoln, the eldest son whom
the humorists of that day had nicknamed "The Prince
of Rails/ assisted in receiving. The brilliant company
included members of the diplomatic corps, with their
wives and daughters, senators, justices of the Supreme
Court, cabinet officials, and two French princes, the
Comte de Paris and the Due de Chartres. 15

Senator Browning, who was present, referred to the
event as "a very large and very brilliant one." 16 But the
affair seems to have brought great censure upon both
the President and Mrs. Lincoln. In spite of the fact that

14 Hertz, I, 271.
15 Poore, II, 115-120.
16 Browning, I, 529,

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 121

there was no dancing, a Philadelphia rhymester wrote a
scurrilous poem entitled "The Queen Must Dance."

The American Temperance Journal deplored at great
length "the famous fete at the White House/ and re
ferred to Mrs. Lincoln s table, "spread with all that can
intoxicate and cheer/ and continued, "with regard to
the President, we had at his election, and have to this
day, good reason to suppose that he was and is in prin
ciple and practice a decided temperance man. We never
endorsed for his better half, but ... we supposed that
all was right in the family. 17

In spite of Lincoln s well known and long standing
reputation as a man of temperate habits, rumors of his
excessive personal use of liquor were quite current below
the Mason & Dixon Line. Newspaper dispatches reported
on the authority of passengers arriving from the "ex
treme south" that the people "universally believe that
Lincoln has been drunk ever since his inauguration,
and only goes out at night disguised to escape assass
ination." 18

But the evidence is clear and unmistakable that
except for mere gestures at wine drinking on state occa
sions, Lincoln was a total abstainer in the White House.

John G. Nicolay, one of his secretaries, says that
"he never drank," adding, however, "the only qualifi
cation that could possibly be made on this last point
is that he did sometimes at his own table, and especially

17 Journal of the American Temperance Union, Vol. 25, March 1862, 40.

18 Cincinnati Daily Commercial, Apr. 30, 1861.

122 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

at state dinners, sip a little wine; but even then, in a
perfunctory way, in complying with a social custom
and not as doing it from any desire or initiative or habit
of his own." 19

James Grant Wilson, who saw Lincoln frequently
during the last six years of his life, writes: "I never saw
him smoke or use tobacco in any form, and but a few
times observed him drinking a glass of wine." 20

"He drank little or no wine," says John Hay. "He
never cared for wine or liquors of any sort." 21

So definitely was this fact known that the Copper
head "Life of Lincoln," extensively circulated in 1864,
entitled "Only Authentic Life of Abraham Lincoln,
Alias Old Abe/ " said: "In his habits he is by no means
foppish, though he brushes his hair sometimes and is
said to wash. He swears fluently. A strict temperance
man himself, he does not object to another man s being
pretty drunk, especially when he is about to make a

bargain with him He can hardly be called handsome,

though he is certainly much better looking since he had
the smallpox." 22

John Hay s Diary, however, indicates that the Presi
dent s gay > rollicking young assistant secretary, and
even the older and more staid Nicolay, were by no means
so abstemious as their chief.

19 J. G. Nicolay to J. G. Wilson, Apr. 7, 1900. Putnam s Magazine,
Feb. 1909.

20 Putnam s Magazine, February 1909.

21 "Life in the White House," by John Hay. Century Magazine,
November 1890.

23 "Only Authentic Life of Abraham Lincoln, Alias Old Abe, " 14-15.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 123

On the afternoon of November 18, 1863, Lincoln and
his party went down to Gettysburg for the dedication
of the National Cemetery to be held next day. Arriving
at dusk, the President was taken to the home of one of
the leading citizens, Judge Wills. Gettysburg was cele
brating its greatest evening* The hotel, boarding houses
and private residences were filled with convivial
strangers. Crowds thronged the village streets and
marched boisterously from place to place as the blaring
military bands serenaded various distinguished guests.

Young Hay and several associates "foraged around/
ate a "chafing dish of oysters," and then went to the
lodging of John W. Forney, a noted newspaper man,
"and drank a little whiskey with him. He had been
drinking a good deal during the day and was getting to
feel a little ugly and dangerous* . . . We went out after
a while, following the music, to hear the serenades. . . .
We went back to Forney s room, having picked up
Nicolay, and drank more whiskey. Nicolay sang his
little song of the Three Thieves/ " Finally it was pro
posed that Forney deliver an address. Somebody went
out to get a band. Forney then made a ludicrous, tipsy
speech, amidst lusty cheers of the crowd, after which,
as Hay says, "we sang John Brown" and went home." 23

The records contain numerous references to very
heavy liquor drinking on the part of many of the mem-

23 Hay Diary entry, Nov. 18, 1863, Thayer, VoL I, 204-6. On Jan. 27,
1864, enroute to Florida, Hay refers to having "brought my books and
my whiskey," and on Feb. 1st, "We went upstairs and drank a few
whiskey punches."

124 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

bers of Congress, particularly during the early part of
Lincoln s Administration. On August 5, 1861, an entry
in Senator Browning s Diary recites: "Several of the
Senators were quite drunk today, especially McDougall
of California & Saulsbury of Delaware, and some scenes
were enacted which ought not to occur in a body occupy
ing so exalted & Dignified a position as the Senate of
the United States." 24

And on January 27, 1863, Saulsbury, in a bitter
tirade against the Administration, referred to "Mr.
Lincoln a weak and imbecile man; the weakest man
that I ever knew in a high place; for I have seen him and
conversed with him, and I say here in my place in the
Senate of the United States, that I never did see or
converse with so weak and imbecile a man as Abraham
Lincoln, President of the United States."

At this point the Vice-President ruled Saulsbury out
of order, but he appealed from the decision of the chair,
and, in his remarks in support of the appeal, continued:
"Talk not to me about lettres de cachet; talk not to me
about the espionage of Napoleon; they are all buried
beneath the wave of oblivion in comparison to what
this man of yesterday, this Abraham Lincoln that
neither you nor I ever heard of four years ago, has chosen
to exercise. Sir, it is out of order, I am told, so to char
acterize the act of an administration; but if I wanted to
paint a tyrant; if I wanted to paint a despot, a man per
fectly regardless of every constitutional right of the

24 Browning, I, 493.

PRESIDE NT LINCOLN 125

people, whose sworn servant, not ruler, he is, I would
paint the hideous form of Abraham Lincoln. If that be
treason " 25

Here Senator Browning says that the Senator from
Delaware "was again required to take his seat, which
he refused to do, and became very turbulent* He was
ordered into the custody of the Sergeant of Arms, and,
other Senators informed me, drew a pistol. I did not
see the pistol, but heard him threaten to shoot, and have
no doubt he had one. He was very drunk. The Sergeant
at Arms took him into custody and the business pro
ceeded. He ought to be expelled, and I presume will be/ 26

However, no further action seems to have been
taken against Senator Saulsbury until after the occur
rence of a most embarrassing incident which set the
tongues of Washingtonians and of the whole country
wagging for many weeks.

On the morning of March 4, 1865, Andrew Johnson
was sworn in as Vice-President of the United States
before a brilliant assemblage that crowded the Senate
chamber. Johnson, still weak from an attack of typhoid
fever, had taken one or perhaps two glasses of brandy
just before the ceremonies began, and, when the time
arrived for him to make his speech, was roaring drunk.
Wholly unprepared for such conduct on the part of the
Senate s presiding officer, the distinguished audience
sat in bewildered silence while the tipsy Tennessean

2 Cong. Globe, 3rd Sess. 37th Cong. Pt. I, 548-55-
26 Browning, I, 620.

126 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

bellowed and gesticulated in a wild harangue. After
admonishing the Senators and the members of the
Supreme Court that they were, after all, merely "crea
tures of the American people/ who "stood above them/
he turned to the gallery, where the foreign representa
tives sat in their gorgeous uniforms, and disdainfully
exclaimed: "And you, gentlemen of the diplomatic
corps, with all your fine feathers and gewgaws!" 27

"During the painful ordeal," says Senator John B.
Henderson of Missouri, "Mr. Lincoln s head drooped
in the deepest humiliation." And when at last Johnson s
speech was over and Lincoln started to the steps of the
Capitol for his own inauguration, he turned to the
marshal and said, quietly but apprehensively, "Do not
let Johnson speak outside." 28

At the east portico, Chief Justice Chase presented
to Lincoln a large, Morocco-bound Bible upon which to
take the oath of office, and the book is said to have been
open significantly at the passage in Isaiah: "Woe unto
them that rise up early in the morning that they may
follow strong drink." 29

That night, Secretary Welles noted in his diary that
the conduct of the Vice-President "was all in very bad
taste." 30 And the other members of the Cabinet made
sharp comment.

Senator Browning appraised the incident as "a very
disreputable inaugural. He addressed himself to the Cab-

27 Milton, 146. 2S Century Magazine, Dec. 1912.
29 Milton, 148. so Welles, II, 252.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 127

inet officers by name., and boasted of his plebeian origin,
and disgusted all decent people who heard him." 31

The American Temperance Journal^ under large
headlines: "Astounding Event; Intemperance Near the
Throne!!/ said-, "Andrew Johnson, the noble loyalist,
the hero of Tennessee, the man elected to fill the second
office of the people, and in case of death, the first . . .
appears as the silly and almost idiotic drunkard, to the
mortification and sadness of all who, in confidence of
his high character and remembrance of his high deeds,
had elevated him to this exalted place/ 32

Shocked and penitent, the Senate, on Monday,
March 6th, passed a resolution directing the Sergeant
at Arms to "remove forthwith" all "intoxicating liquor"
from the Senate wing of the capitol and "hereafter to
exclude liquor in every form." Then it voted to remove
Senators McDougall and Saulsbury from all standing
committees "because of their habitual inebriety and
incapacity for business."

But Lincoln, with a wider and more varied experience
than most of his colleagues, took a philosophical view
of the matter. "I have known Andy for many years /
he said. "He made a bad slip the other day> but you need
not be scared. Andy ain t a drunkard." 33

It is certain that one of Lincoln s greatest problems
during the war was the excessive use of liquor in the

31 Browning, II, 9.

32 Journal of the American Temperance Union, Vol. 29, Apr. 1865, 57.

33 Milton, 149.

128 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

army. Not only was this true when the soldiers were
encamped around Washington, where there were six
hundred licensed saloons and fifteen hundred unlicensed
rum shops,, but in the field as well.

On September 29, 1863,, a delegation of the Sons of
Temperance waited upon the President^ and Lincoln
made them a brief address.

"When I was a young man long ago before the
Sons of Temperance as an organization had any exis
tence/ said he, "I, in an humble way, made temperance
speeches, and I think I may say that to this day I have
never, by my example, belied what I then said/

To the delegation s suggestion for the purpose of
advancing the cause of temperance in the army, Lincoln
said: "I can not make particular responses to them at
this time." He pointed out that the prevention of in
temperance in the army was part of the articles of war,
and that the law required the dismissal of officers for
drunkenness. "I am not sure that, consistent with the
public service, more can be done than has been done."

Then he continued, "I think that the reasonable
men of the war have long since agreed that intemperance
is one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of all evils
among mankind. This is not a matter of dispute, I
believe. . . . The mode of cure is one about which there
may be differences of opinion."

To the suggestion that drunkenness in the army was
the cause of frequent disaster to the Union arms, Lincoln
replied that "while it is perhaps rather a bad source to

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 129

derive comfort from, nevertheless in a hard struggle, I
do not know but what it is some consolation that there
is some intemperance on the other side, too; and that
they have no right to beat us in physical combat on that
ground/ 34

And to another temperance committee, who em
phatically told Lincoln that his troops could not win
because the army drank so much whisky as to bring the
curse of the Lord upon them, the President mildly
observed that he could not see the justice of this curse^
since "the other side drinks more and worse whiskey
than ours do/ 35

The American Temperance Journal, however, was
apparently not altogether satisfied with Lincoln s reply
to the Sons of Temperance. "The President said he was
not sure that more could be done than has been done,"
stated the Journal. "Is he sure that in consistency with
the public service some things could not have been left
undone which have been done? For instance, the issuing
of the order of General Banks permitting liquor to be
carried over the lines for the use of the officers in their

Works, IX, 144.

35 Herndon, III, 516. The accuracy of Lincoln s observation is indicated
by a rare Confederate temperance tract, published in Richmond "By
a Physician," owned by the author, which reads in part: "Officers and
privates church members and worldlings, gather around the festive
board and spend the hours and days in drinking, gambling and too often,
alas! in obscene and profane jocularity. The man who raises his stalwart
arm to break the shackles which an earthly despot would impose upon
this sunny South, now bows at the shrine of Bacchus. . . . Better had we
bowed the neck to Lincoln s yolk than made ourselves the willing slaves
of grovelling passions and depraved appetites."

130 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

tents, while it was refused to the private soldiers; an
order which has converted every officer s tent into a
drinking saloon and caused more drunkenness in the
army than anything else whatever/ 36

In January 1863, Lincoln found it necessary to ap
point a new commander for the Army of the Potomac
to succeed Burnside. General Joseph Hooker seemed to
be the most available man. "Fighting Joe/ 3 a very im
pressive looking officer., had captivated John Hay by
his "tall and statuesque form, grand fighting head and
grizzled russet hair, red florid cheeks and bright blue
eyes." It was rumored, however, that Hooker was very
fond of liquor. Montgomery Blair considered him "too
great a friend of John Barleycorn," and Gideon Welles
was afraid that he indulged in "the free use of whiskey/ 37

Even Hay, who dined with him occasionally, noticed
that while Hooker did not drink much, "yet what little
he did drink made his cheeks hot and red and his eyes
brighter," and Hay observed, "I can easily understand
how the stories of his drunkenness have grown, if so
little affects him as I have seen/ 38

Lincoln himself was not wholly without doubt about
Hooker, but he had an engaging frankness and a keen
intelligence that the President admired. Hooker was
personally popular with the army, and, as his sobriquet
indicated, was not afraid of combat. So, on January

36 Journal of the American Temperance Union, Vol. 36, Nov. 1863, 168.

37 Welles, I, 229-30.

38 Hay Diary, I, 93~99-

4

05

I

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 131

a6, 1863, the President placed him in command, with a
now celebrated letter of friendly warning.

All went well until the afternoon of May and, when
the veteran infantry of Stonewall Jackson burst like a
thundercloud upon Hooker s right flank lying unpro
tected in the woods at Chancellorsville. In the fighting
that followed, the Union troops were completely routed,
and Hooker himself was stunned for several hours when
a cannonball shot away a wooden pillar of the portico of
the Chancellor House, near where he was standing.

Following this battle, it was bitterly charged that
Hooker, had been intoxicated, but General Schurz, who
was in immediate command of the right flank, seems to
be under the impression that Hooker s "torpid condi
tion" was due to the fact that he had "utterly abstained
from his usual potations for fear of taking too much/
and that "his brain failed to work because he had not
given it the stimulus to which it had been habituated/ 39

When Lincoln appointed Grant to command the
armies of the United States with rank of lieutenant
general, many of his friends and advisors doubted the
wisdom of his choice. 40

As a young officer with the army in Mexico, Grant
had been a "solitary drinker, and it was said that he
had been removed from the army before the Civil War
on account of his bibulous habits. After Shiloh, where it

89 Schurz, II, 431.

40 "He had also, like Hooker, the reputation of indulging too freely in
whiskey to be always safe and reliable/ Welles, I, 387.

132 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

was claimed that he had almost lost the battle through
dissipation, Lincoln was strongly urged to remove him,
but the President, sitting in deep meditation before an
open fire in the Cabinet Room, his long legs propped
up on the high marble mantle, slowly shook his head.
"I can t spare this man/* he said. "He fights/ 41

Later the now famous story became current that,
when a committee appeared at the White House seeking
Grant s retirement on the ground that "he drinks too
much whiskey/ Lincoln smiled and said: "By the way,
gentlemen, can either of you tell me where General
Grant procures his whiskey? If I can find out, I will
send every general in the field a barrel of it." 42

David Homer Bates, in his "Lincoln Stories," pub
lished in 1926, challenges the authenticity of this anec
dote, saying that Lincoln denied it in his presence when
he was a young telegraph operator in the War Depart
ment. 43

But Bates would be more convincing were he not so
evidently anxious that Lincoln should appear under all
circumstances as perfect in thought and action as
possible; for instance: " By jinks, Lincoln exclaimed
one day, under pressure, in the telegraph office. Almost
instantly he looked self-accused and apologetic. To the
suggestion that by jinks was not swearing, he replied

McClure, 178-80.

42 Carpenter, 247. Carpenter spent six months in the White House
shortly after this incident is alleged to have occurred.

43 Bates, 50.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 133

that according to what his mother told him when a
child, it was swearing and wrong. 44

Now, in the quaint verbiage of old Aunt Tish, who
was being vexatiously cross-examined in a rural Ken
tucky court, "Enough is enough and too much spiles
it." Certainly Lincoln was not a profane man. In fact,
he rarely ever swore. But at the same time he was no
squeamish, mealy-mouthed individual who went about
quaking in his boots lest, in an unguarded moment,
some robust or impious word escape him.

"Ewing won t do anything. He is not worth a damn/ 5
Lincoln wrote his law partner, John T. Stuart. 45

And a few months later: "A damned hawk-billed
Yankee is here besetting me at every turn I take/ 46

"Then, in God s name, cut it down clean to the roots/
he exclaimed, when upon arriving home one afternoon
he found a man chopping down, by order of Mrs. Lincoln,
the only shade tree in his front yard. 47

"By God, Governor, I will make the ground in this
country too hot for the foot of a slave," he declared
when the chief executive of Illinois declined to inter
fere in the case of a free negro boy from Springfield who
had been taken off a boat in the Mississippi River and
sold into bondage. 48

44 Bates, "Lincoln Stories/* 7-8.

Works, IX, 98. For a fac simile of this letter see A. C. Goodyear Sale
Catalog, Feb. I, 1927.

46 Works, I, 139.

47 Statement, P. P. Enos, 1866, in Beveridge, II, 205.

48 Herndon, II, 379

134 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

And young John Hay one night recorded in his diary
a conversation with the President that day in which
Lincoln had said: "For once in my life, I rather gave
my temper the rein, and I talked to those men pretty
damned plainly." 49

Of course, Lincoln could not swear with the crashing
vehemence of Washington, or the lurid imagery of
Andrew Jackson, or the tripping rhythmic eloquence of
Kentucky s gallant Harry of the West, but it is appar
ent that, now and then, under sufficient provocation,
he could do rather well in his own awkward way.

Furthermore, at least on one occasion, he did not
seem greatly shocked at the use of profanity in his
presence. One day the President and Secretary of State
Seward, with a young staff officer, were riding in an
army ambulance driven by four mules. The party was
going down to a military review near Arlington, and
when they reached the Virginia side of the Potomac, the
roads rough and rutted from artillery and army trains
became very bad. Finally the driver lost his temper
and began swearing. After a while the President turned
around and said:

"Driver, my friend, are you an Episcopalian?"

Much astonished, the man replied: "No, Mr. Presi
dent,, I ain t much of anything, but if I go to church at
all I go to the Methodist Church."

"Oh, excuse me," replied Lincoln, with a smile and
a twinkle in his eye, "I thought you must be an Episco-

49 Diary entry, Oct. 30, 1863, Thayer, I, 203.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 135

palian, for you swear just like Secretary Seward, and
he is a church warden/ 50

The "Grant Whiskey" story deserves only passing
notice. If related by Lincoln at all, it was so obviously
in jest that the persistent attack upon it by the Pro
hibitionists is somewhat surprising. At the very time
that this story first became current, Lincoln was lend
ing every possible aid to James B. Merwin and other
temperance agents in their work among the soldiers of
the Union Army.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Merwin was an
agent of the Michigan State Temperance Alliance, with
headquarters in Detroit. In July 1861, he arrived in
Washington. Fifty-four years later, it was his recollection
that he came at the urgent personal solicitation of
President Lincoln. 51

But the report of the Committee on Military Affairs
filed in 1862, with reference to "the memorial of Rev.
J. B. Merwin . . . asking compensation as chaplain,"
recites that "It is claimed by Mr. Merwin, and your
Committee believes truly, that upon the suggestion of
the Hon. Lewis Cass and Governor Blair, of Michigan,
Mr. Merwin came to Washington on the 8th of July last
with a petition addressed to the President and Secretary
of War, asking that he should be assigned to some posi
tion in the army which would give him facilities for

60 Putnam s Magazine, Feb. 1909.

81 "Lincoln wrote me to come to Washington." See full statement
"Proceedings i6th National Anti-Saloon League of America," 267-269.

136 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

visiting the various camps and regiments, and for the
purpose of addressing the officers and soldiers on the
subject of temperance/ 52

Although there is no evidence to support Merwin s
oft-repeated assertion of intimacy with Lincoln during
the war period, it is no doubt a fact that he performed
valuable services as a faithful temperance worker in the
army camps. 53

Soon after Merwin s arrival in Washington, a
memorial was presented to Lincoln, signed by many in
fluential members of Congress, asking that Merwin be
commissioned a major of volunteers, which the Presi
dent somewhat cautiously endorsed on the back as
follows: "If it be ascertained at the War Department
that the President has legal authority to make an
appointment such as is asked within, and General
Scott is of the opinion it will be available for good, let
it be done/ 54

But a year later, the highly salutary effects of Mer-
win s work had been so thoroughly established that
Lincoln did not hesitate to write the following:

52 House Report No. no. House Bill No. 484 was reported May 16,
1862, but seems to have been killed by Senator Conkling of New York,
June 13, 1862. See House Journal, 37th Congress, Second Sess. 702; Cong.
Globe, 37th Cong., Second Sess., Vol. 32, pt. 3, 2716.

53 Brigadier General Richardson informed the Committee on Military
Affairs: "His visit and address to the regiments in this brigade under my
command has been productive of very great good; the men listened with
the deepest interest. There is a marked improvement in their behavior
and appearance. Seven hundred and forty in one regiment have taken the
temperance pledge." House Report No. no, Ibid.

M Lincoln to War Department, July 17, 1861. Facsimile in White,
opp. 90.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 137

"Surgeon General will send Mr. Merwin wherever he may
think the public service may require.

July 2^4, 1862..

A. Lincoln." 55

On June 16, 1904, "The New Voice/ a prohibition
periodical, published an interview with Merwin, stating
that Lincoln had "called Mr. Merwin to the White
House that fateful Friday, the i4th of April 1865, with
reference to a plan to excavate the Panama Canal with
freedmen labor/ and that during this conversation
Lincoln had said, "Mr. Merwin, after reconstruction,
the next great question will be the overthrow of the
liquor traffic/

During the next six years, this incident underwent a
drastic evolution, and on July 5, 1910, Merwin wrote
Dr. Blakeslee that General Ben Butler had suggested to
Lincoln the Panama Canal plan, and that the President
wanted Merwin to confer with Horace Greeley about it.
"He telegraphed General Dix to send me to Washington
by first train," said Merwin* "I left New York Tuesday
night, reached Washington Wednesday morning. A
great crowd of people were around the White House. I
held the telegram up. President Lincoln saw it; said
Come at ten tonight/ It was twelve at night before he
could get away and lock up. We worked until three a. m.
and then retired. Thursday night we worked on the
proposition until three a. m., and still it did not quite
suit Mr. Lincoln. Friday was Cabinet meeting. He

65 Facsimile in White, opp. 88.

138 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

locked all the doors at its close, and ordered our dinner
brought up. He finished the paper. We ate dinner and he
read it over. One door was not locked. Mrs. Lincoln
came in and said, Abe, the Ford s Theater people have
tendered us a box for this evening, and I have accepted*
The Grants are going with us, and I do not want you
to make any other engagement/

"Mr. Lincoln said: "Mary, I do not think we ought
to go to the theater. Do you remember it is Good
Friday, a religious day with a great many people, and
I do not think we ought to go the the theater tonight/

"Mrs. Lincoln said: We are going/

"We finished dinner. He read the paper over again.
He folded it carefully and handed it to me saying,
Merwin, we have cleaned up a colossal job. We have
abolished slavery. After reconstruction, the next great
movement on the part of the people will be the over
throw of the legalized liquor traffic, and you know my
heart and my hand, my purse and my life will be given
to that great movement/

" "Mr. Lincoln, shall I make this public? asked I.

"He said Yes, publish it as broad as the daylight/ " 66

Yet Merwin, the lifelong prohibitionist, the pro
fessional temperance lecturer, the militant, implacable
foe of strong drink, waited almost forty years before he
obeyed Lincoln s parting injunction to publish his
momentous declaration as "broad as the daylight," and

56 White, 153

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 139

more than forty-five years elapsed before he disclosed
the full details of this last and most important interview.
Under the circumstances, even the most credulous of
Merwin s followers can hardly object to the close
scrutiny of this startling., if somewhat tardy, disclosure.
In 1892, General Benjamin F. Butler wrote a bulky
volume entitled "Butler s Book/ which, as we may
fairly infer, Merwin had at least casually read. Butler
says that just before Lincoln left for City Point to visit
Grant s army, he suggested to him that the negro
soldiers then enlisted in the Union ranks be employed
after the cessation of hostilities in digging "a short
canal across the Isthmus of Darien."

Lincoln replied: "There is meat in that, General
Butler. There is meat in that/ and he requested Butler
to consult Secretary Seward as to how the project might
affect our foreign relations, saying, however, "there is
no special hurry/ 57

A short time after this interview, Lincoln arrived, on
March 23, 1865, at City Point, where he remained with
Grant until after the fall of Richmond, and Butler
never saw him again. That day Secretary Welles re
corded in his diary, "the President has gone to the
front, partly to get rid of the throng that is pressing
upon him. ... He makes his office much more laborious
than he should. . . * The more he yields, the greater the
pressureuponhim.Ithasnowbecomesuchthat he is com
pelled to flee. There is no dout?t he is much worn down/" ""

57 Butler, 902-908. 5S Welles, March 23, 1865, II, 264.

"58

140 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

On Sunday evening, April 9th, the President re
turned to Washington. Lee had surrendered. The North
was frantic with joy* The capital was in a state of
delirious confusion; thousands of marchers crowded the
streets amidst brilliant illumination and fireworks,,
serenading the President and demanding speeches. The
corridors of the White House were packed and jammed
with the "throng" that was "pressing about him."

And yet Lincoln, according to Merwin, though
weighted down with important matters which had ac
cumulated during the long absence from his office, con
fronted with a multitude of perplexing problems
suddenly arising out of the end of the war, in the very
vortex of all this swirling excitement, worked with him
until three o clock Thursday morning, and until the
same hour Friday morning, and then through the
dinner hour that day, on a paper concerning the canal
plan which Merwin was to carry to Horace Greeley.

Why all this writing? The plan, it must be remem
bered, was not Lincoln s. It was Butler s; and Lincoln
was as yet wholly unacquainted with the details. Butler
says that he had promised the President to "elaborate
my proposition carefully in writing before I presented it
to Mr. Seward," but he had not done so, and Lincoln
had said there was "no special hurry." It is inconceiv
able, therefore, that Lincoln would have written at such
extraordinary length to a crusty, peevish, fault-finding
newspaper man like Greeley concerning a project upon
which he could only have been meagerly informed*

PRESIDENT LINCOLN I 4 I

Furthermore, Merwin s account of this last inter
view with Lincoln is improbable on its face. The Cabinet
meeting did not adjourn before one-thirty. Grant was
present at this conference, and the General was still in
the White House, according to Merwin, when he and
Lincoln dined alone. 59

But what became of Grant? He could scarcely have
been entertained by Mrs. Lincoln, because she "could
not tolerate" him, 60 and he did not like her. 61 Strange,
indeed, that the President should leave the commanding
general of his victorious armies, lock the door, and have
luncheon with Merwin !

However, one door was unlocked. This, of course,
has to be, for Merwin is about to introduce Mrs. Lin
coln in a bit of highly inconsistent dialogue. He says she
called the President "Abe," but no one else, not even
her relatives and members of her household, ever heard
her refer to him except as "Mr. Lincoln." 62

Mrs. Lincoln would hardly have informed the Presi
dent that the theater box had been tendered that
evening, because the invitation had been extended to
Lincoln himself, and it had been accepted at least three
hours before Mrs. Lincoln s supposed conversation. 63 It

ss Letter to the author from J. W. Starr, quoting Merwin, May 23, 1932.
*o Keckley, 133-134- 61 Badeau, 356, et seq.

62 Keckley, 125-129. "Mary never called her husband by his first name,"
Mrs. Lincoln s sister, in Helm, 106. "I often laugh and tell^Mr. Lincoln
that I am determined my next husband shall be rich. . . . " "Mr. Lincoln
is not at home." Mary Lincoln to her sister, Emilie, Sept. 20 (1856)-
Helm, 122-124.

63 Testimony of James R. Ford, Manager of Ford s Theater, May 30,
1865. Pitman, 101.

142 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

is not likely that she would have told him that the
Grants were going, because Lincoln had known this
even before the Cabinet meeting, 64 an d had also known
by eleven o clock that the Grants had cancelled their
engagement, 65 and Mrs. Lincoln had invited Major
Rathbone and Miss Harris in their stead.

It is also strange that Lincoln should have expressed
an unwillingness to attend the theater, because Bates, the
telegraph operator at the War Department, says that
when Lincoln visited the Secretary of War about ten-
thirty that morning, Stanton found that he was "set on
going" to the theater in spite of the Secretary s warning
that it might not be safe. 66

And when Speaker Colfax, according to the Wash
ington Evening Star, April 15, 1865, visited Lincoln as
he was starting to the theater, the President stated to
him that he was going, although Mrs. Lincoln had not
been well, because he did not want to disappoint
the people. 67

While, of course, Merwin s story of Lincoln s an
nounced purpose to lead a crusade against the liquor
traffic is difficult to directly contradict, the marked
improbability of his entire story in connection with it is
so apparent that it is little wonder Robert Lincoln
politely rejected it.

64 Starr, 1 8. ** Ibid. Bates, 366.

67 "She (Mrs. Lincoln) had tried to persuade her husband not to go, but
he persisted in order, as he said, to escape the multitude which would
otherwise press into the White House to shake hands with him." Starr,
19-20.

Ford s Theatre, showing Star Saloon, where Booth took his last drink
before the assassination

PRESIDENT LINCOLN 143

In a letter dated April 30, 1917, from Robert T.
Lincoln to Charles T. White, a portion of which has
been quoted in a previous chapter, he said, with particu
lar reference to the Merwin interview:

"Then, as to his dining with my father on the day of his death,
I can only say this: I arrived from Appomattox on the morning of
that day and breakfasted with my father; I do not recall anything
about luncheon, but I dined with him and my mother in the evening
of that day, and I simply know that neither Mr. Merwin nor any
other guest was present at the dinner. Perhaps Mr. Merwin did
take luncheon with him and called it dinner. That is entirely pos
sible, but I know nothing of it, and personally, I have my doubts
as to the truth of the statement. That was a very busy day at
the White House.

General Grant was in town and conferred with my father;
there was a Cabinet meeting, and it is hard to make me believe
that on that day he discussed with Mr. Merwin a plan for the ex
tension and completion of the Panama Canal by means of the labor
of the freedmen, and plans for his going to New York to secure the
view of Horace Greeley and others on the subject. The sum of this
is that while there may be no doubt of Mr. Merwin having done
something in the cause of temperance, I can not help the feeling
that in his account of things he has let his imagination run a little
wild. . . .

"As an illustration of the growth of inventions, in a book of Dr.
Hobson, who never saw my father, I find, at page 53, the following
statement: Mr. Lincoln often "preached" what he called his
"sermon to boys/ as follows: "Don t drink, don t gamble, don t
smoke, don t lie, don t cheat. Love your fellowmen, love God, love
truth, love virtue, and be happy." *

"In the inquiry made of me, of which I wrote above, a later
author improved this invention of Dr. Hobson s as follows:

" The Hon. Robert T. Lincoln has stated that his father never
used liquor or tobacco in any form, and quotes the following ser
mon, as he calls it, which he preached to his boys: "Don t drink,
don t smoke, don t swear, don t gamble, don t lie, don t cheat. Love

144 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

your fellowmen and love God. Love truth, love virtue and be
happy/"

"I never made this statement nor heard of it until I saw it as

indicated. __ .

Very truly yours,

ROBERT T. LiNcoLisr." 68

Two hours after Colfax s interview with Lincoln at
the White House, J. Wilkes Booth, acclaimed by Wash
ington billboards as the "Youngest Tragedian in the
World/ paced restlessly up and down the sidewalk in
front of Ford s Theater. The dapper, swaggering actor
wore a dark frock coat and trousers, long, elegant riding
boots of soft polished calfskin, and one of those new black
round-topped hats that marked the man of fashion.

The weather was changing rapidly. Patches of
clouds scudded across the sky. Now and then flashes of
lightning flickered along the western horizon. In a little
while, if it did not rain, the moon would be rising over
the gnarled willows that fringed the sluggish Potomac.

Shortly after ten o clock, Booth entered the Star
Saloon adjoining the playhouse, and called for whisky.
The barkeeper, Peter Taltavull, set out a bottle with a
small tumbler, which his customer filled to the brim and
drained at a gulp. Then wiping his black glossy mustache
with a silk handkerchief, the "y un g est tragedian in the
world" walked through the lobby of the theater and
turned furtively toward the long flight of carpeted steps
that led to the balcony. Upstairs in the state box, gaily
festooned with flags, Abraham Lincoln sat with his
back to the door. . . .

68 White, 159.

TH E E ND

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146 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

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148 LINCOLN AND LIQUOR

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INDEX

Adams, John Quincy, 115

Allen, Dr. John, 28

American Temperance Journal,

The, 121, 127
Anderson s Creek, 21
Anti-Saloon League, The, 74, 75
Armstrong, Jack, 26, 29
Ashmun, 100
Atherton, Peter, 10

Baber, A. J., 78, 85, 86, 8?

Baldwin, Col., 86

Banks, General N. P., 129

Bardstown, Ky., i

Barker, William, 15

"Barrens, The/ 9

Bates, David Homer, 132, 142

Bates, Philip, 114

Baton Rouge, La., 21

Berry, William F., 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,

35, 3<5> 38

Black Hawk War, 29
Blair, Montgomery, 130
Blaisdell, 108

Blakeslee, Dr. F. D., 74, 13?
Bleakley & Montgomery, 6
Bloomington Pantagraph, The, 106
Bodkin of Alton, 91, 92
Boland, Bill, 19
Booth, J. Wilkes, 144
Breckenridge, Clopos, 60
Breckenridge County, Ky., 4
Brooks, S. S., 60

Brown, Judge Thomas C., 91, 92, 93
Browning, Senator, 120, 124, 125,

126

Bunn, Jacob, 70, 105, 109, no
Bunn, John W., 100
Burner, Daniel Green, 34, 35, 36
Burns, Robert, 108

Burnside, General, 130
Bushane, Mme., 21
Butler, General Benjamin F., 137,
139,

Calhoun, John, 38

Cameron, John M., 23

Cass, Hon. Lewis, 135

Chambers, Dr. James, i, 2

Chartres, Due de, 120

Chase, Chief Justice Samuel, 126

Chase, Kate, 118

Chenery House, 99, 1 10

Clary Grove Boys, 26, 27, 31

Clary, Royal A., 28

Clary, William, 25

Clay, Henry, $, 19, 41, 99> "6, "7

134
Coif ax, Speaker of the House, 142

Cooper, James Fenimore, 115
Crawford, Mrs. Josiah, 21
Crittenden, John J., 99
Crittenden, Mrs. John J., 118
Cumberland Road, 9
Cuming, F., 3

Davidson, A. B., 107

Davidson and Stuve, 73

Davis, Judge David, 103, 104, 108,

109

Davis, James McCan, 34, 35> 3 6 > 3
Davis, Dr. William, 21
Decatur Gazette, 105
De Witt Circuit Court, 105
Dickson, W. M., 102
Diller Drug Store, 98
Dix, General, 137
Douglas, Judge Stephen A,, 37, 41,

96,97
Douglas, Mrs. Stephen A., 118

Dow, Neal, 63

150

INDEX

Downs, William, 10
Dubois, Jesse K., 96
Dubois, Lincoln, 96
Dutton, John, 22

Edgar Circuit Court, 85, 86, 87
Edwards, Hon. B. S., 73, 79, 80
Eighteenth Amendment, 49, 84
Elizabethtown, Ky., 6, 10
Elkin, David, 10
Ellis, A. Y., 30
Ewing, General Lee D., 42
Ewing, Judge James S., 62, 96, 108

Farmer, Aaron, 17

Fell, Jesse, 20

Ferguson, Benjamin, 54, 55

Field, Kate, 95

First Presbyterian Church, 67

Flint, Timothy, 3

"Footprints of Abraham Lincoln,"

88

Ford s Theatre, 138, 144
Forney, John W., 123
Francis, Simeon, 66, 70, 73
Frankfort, Ky., 5
Fulton County, Ga., 50

Gaines, Mrs. Myra, 118
Gentry, Allan, 21
Gentry s store, 17, 18
Gentry ville, Ind., 18, 19
Gillispie, Judge Joseph, 98, 107
Gourley, James, 61, 72, 83, 98
Graham, Mentor, 28, 29
Grant, Ulysses S., 131, 132, 143
Grants, The, 142
Greeley, Horace, 137, 140, 143
Green, Squire Bowling, 33
Grigsby, Aaron, 20
Grigsby, Nat, 15, 16, 18, 20
Grigsby, Reuben, 20
Grigsby, Sarah Lincoln, 21
Grigsby, William, 18

Haight, J. Mason, 101
Haines, James, 104
Hancock County, 111., 9

Hanks, Dennis, 4, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18

Hardin Circuit Court, 10

Hardin, John J., 44

Hardinsburg, Ky., 4

Harrison Campaign, 116

Hay, John 95, 122, 123, 130, 134

Heerdt, Clement & Co., 119, 120

Henderson, Senator John B., 126

Herndon, James A., 30, 31

Herndon, Rowan, 30

Herndon, William HL, 17, 33-36, 58,

59, 61, 68, 70, 71, 72, 79, 81, 89,

98, 105, 109-112
Hill, Parthenia, 34, 35, 36
Hill, Samuel, 35
Hobson, Rev. J. T., 88, 143
Hooker, General Joseph, 130, 131
Hooten, Reason, 97
Huntingburg, Ind., 22

Illinois General Assembly, 40

Illinois Maine Law, 84

Illinois State Maine Law Alliance,

77

Illinois State Register, The, 89
Illinois Whigs, 66
"Intimate Character Sketches of

Abraham Lincoln," 84

Jackson, Andrew, 134
Jackson, Thomas Jonathan, 131 .
Jefferson, Thomas, 114
Johnson, Andrew, 125, 126, 127
Johnston, John D., 16, 18, 19, 21, 22

Kaskaskia River, 40

Kelso, Jack, 38

Kessler, Benjamin, 107

Kitchell, Attorney General W., 47

Knob Creek, 9

Koerner, Gustave, 99

Lamon, Ward Hill, 72, 73, 83, 84,

96, 97, 109
Langston s, 60
Lee, General Robert E., 140
Lexington, Ky., n

INDEX

"Life of Lincoln/ 122

Lincoln, Abraham, 9-1 i, 13, 15-23,

25-46, 48-51, 54-62, 66, 67, 69-77,

79, 81-91, 93-113, 120-144
"Lincoln and Herndon," 82
Lincoln, Edward, 67
Lincoln, Elizabeth, 7, 8, 9
Lincoln, Jesse, 8
Lincoln, Mary, 99, 118-121, 138,

141-142

Lincoln, Mordecai, Jr., 9
Lincoln, Mordecai, Sr., 9
Lincoln, Robert, 88, 120, 142-144
Lincoln, Sarah, 20
"Lincoln Stories," 132
Lincoln, Tad, 101
Lincoln, Thomas, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15
Lincoln, Willie, 119
Lind, Jennie, 117

Linder, Usher R, 42, 43, 85-87, 108
Little Mount Church, 10
Little Pigeon Baptist Church, 24
Little Pigeon Creek, 21
Logan, Judge Stephen T., 70, 71,

79> 80, 97
Louisville and Portland Canal, 21

McClean Circuit Court, 86, 104

McClean s Tavern, i

McDougall, Senator, 127

McNelly,^ W., 34, 35

Macon Circuit Court, 104

Madison, James, 115

Maine Law, 64, 68, 69, 72-74, 76, 79,

81, 82, 89, 107
Maine Law Alliance, 64, 87
Maine Law Campaign, 63
Marshall, Tom, 117
Mason & Dixon Line, 121
Matheny, James H., 80, 93, 108
Menard County, 111., 23
Merwin, James B., 73-80, 83-85, 88,

89, I35-H3
Michaux, M., 3
Michigan State Temperance

Alliance, 135

Missouri Compromise, The, 69
Monroe, James, 115
Monroe, Mrs. James, 115
Mt. Vernon, 113, 114
Moustier, Comte de, 1 14
Muldraugh s Hill, 9
Munsell, Roswell, 104

New Orleans, 21

New Salem, 111., 23, 25, 26, 37

Newton, Rev. Joseph Fort, 81-84,

109

Nicolay, John G., 121-123
Nolan Creek, Ky., 9
Northwestern Christian Advocate,

The, 78

Offutt, Denton, 25, 29
Qffutt s store, 26

"Only Authentic Life of Abraham
Lincoln, Alias Old Abe ", 122
Organ, George, 107
Ormsbee, Representative, 47
Owens, Mary, 43

Panama Canal, 137
Paris, Comte de, 120
Parker, Theodore, 72, 81
Pearl, Frederick, 106
Pearl, Sylvester, 106
Peck, Judge, 99

"Personal Recollections of Abra
ham Lincoln," 82, 83
Pickett, George E., 58
Pigeon Creek, 14
Pigeon Creek Church, 15
Pioneer Fire Company, The, 108
Pioneers, The, 107
Platt, Ephriam, 106
Potomac Saloon, 144
Potter, John, 35, 36

"Quart Law," 63

Radford, Reuben, 31
Randall s Tavern, 102
Rankin, Henry B., 77, 79-84, 88
Reynolds & Fuller, 107

152

INDEX

Robinson, J., 60
Rolling Fork River, 12
Ross, Harvey, 37, 38, 48
Rowan, John, i, 2
Russell, Dr, Howard O., 75
Rutledge & Since, 31
Rutledge, James McGrady, 34, 36
Rutledge, R. B., 27

Sangamo Journal, The, 58, 59
Sangamon County, 111., 40, 44
Sangamon River, 23, 25
SangamonTemperance Union, 60, 6 1
Saulsbury, Senator, 124, 127
Schurz, General, 131
Sebastian, Judge Benjamin, I
Seward, William H., 134, 139, *4 O
Shields, James, 41
Shiloh, Battle of, 131
Singleton, Esther, 115
Sinking Spring, Ky., 9
Smith, Dr. James W., 64-68
Sons of Temperance, 61, 128
South Elkhorn Creek, Ky., 7
Spears, George, 33, 35, 36
Speed, Joshua, 59, 93

Springfield, 111., 40, 64, 90
Springfield Chapter, Washington

Temperance Society, 53
Stan ton, Edwin M., 142
Starr, John W., Jr., 79, 8 1, 82
Stuart & Edwards, 80
Stuart, John T., 66, 133
Sullivan Case, 105
Sullivan Patrick, 104
Swett, Leonard, 94

Taltavull, Peter, 144
Tarbell, Ida M., 34
Taylor, Zachary, 116
Tazewell Circuit Court, 106
Temperance Society of New Salem,

28

Temple, William H., 104
Tyler, John, 116

Van Buren, Martin, 116
Vandalia, 111., 40

Walker, Newton, 43

Warfield, Peter, 8

Washington s Birthday Speech, 58

Washington Evening Star, The, 142

Washington, George, 113, 114

Washington Temperance pledge, 54

Washington Temperance Society,

52, 55, 56, 58, 59, 61
Watson, J. B., 60, 78
Weber, J. B., 60
Webster, Daniel, 117
Weik, Jesse, 96
Welles, Gideon, 126, 130, 139
White, Charles T., 80, 82, 83, 84,

88, 143

White, Horace, 94, 95
Whitney, Henry C., 71, 97
Williams, Archibald, 43
Wilson, James Grant, 122
Wood, William, 16, 22
Wooley, John G., 85

Yoder, Jacob, 2

Young, Judge Richard M., 41

102091